The Curse
by thexautumnxwitch
Summary: You think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood? You don't know the half of it. [ChadxOC, MalxBen, EviexDoug CarlosxJane JayxAudrey]
1. Chapter 1

It had been a long journey, a very long journey. The blonde walked over the hill and let out a sigh of relief, in the distance she could see it, Auradon Prep. It was a vision of safety for her, for a girl who just spent the better part of a week walking and, when possible, hitch-hiking to the kingdom. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down off of her head and hurried down the hill, she was so close. She could just imagine the nice warm bed she would have access to... as long as she could convince them to take her in.

That would be the only problem.

* * *

"Jay! Over here!" Ben called out, running down the tourney field. Jay threw the ball to him and the King of Auradon dove to catch it, rolling back to a standing position, running to the end of the field. It was just practice, but Ben had to pat himself on the back for that one, it had been pretty impressive.

"Alright Ben." Coach clapped. "and great pass Jay. You're getting better at this whole 'Team' thing." He added to the dark haired boy, who brightened at the praise. "Take five." He added and all the boys came jogging to the sideline, lining up to get a cup of water.

"You did great Ben." Mal called from the bleachers. Ben beamed up at her, pouring his water and stepped out of the way so Carlos could get a cup. The King walked up the bleachers to where his girlfriend sat with Evie.

"Yeah? How great?" He asked, a teasing grin gracing his lips.

"This great." Mal replied, leaning in to kiss him. Evie mimed gagging, moving out of the way, but smiled at the two, before moving down towards the team, taking up a conversation with Jay and Carlos.

"So," Ben watched Evie flounce off before turning his attention back to Mal. "What are you doing this weekend?" He asked.

"This weekend?" Mal looked like she was thinking really hard about it. "Hmm... Well I think I'll start with homework, followed by watching my boyfriend win the Tourney game. Followed up by some TV and laying around my dorm. Why? Did you have a better idea?" She knew he did.

"I was thinking a date, in town."

"In town? How fancy. It's almost like I'm dating the King."

"Your Highness!" Ben looked up to see Jane running from the castle, huffing and puffing. "Y-Your highness." She slowed as she came to the field. "Y-" She stopped, trying to catch her breath. Carlos appeared at her side with a cup of water. "Thank you." She took it and slowly drank it.

"Jane?" Ben asked after a couple minutes of her drinking the water.

"Oh! Right! Mom needs you in her office, right away. She said 'Post Haste, it is an emergency'." Jane quoted.

"What's going on?" Ben headed down from the bleacher, Mal on his tail.

"She wouldn't tell me details, just that you needed to hurry."

Expecting the worst, Ben took off for the castle at a sprint, Mal started after him but Jane stopped her.

"Mom said only His Highness."

"You know you can call him Ben, right?" Mal looked to the extremely nervous young girl.

"Oh no, I can't." The girl insisted, shaking her head.

"Of course not." Mal muttered.

* * *

"Fairy god mother?" Ben burst through the door, the girl in front of the desk jumped and whirled to face him.

"Oh, King Ben, good. You're quite sweaty."

"I was at tourney practice, what is the emergency?"

"Oh there isn't one, I just told Jane that so she would hurry. That girl moves at her own pace sometimes." Fairy Godmother shook her head. Ben gaped at her a moment. "Fairy bless her though, I love her." The blonde girl in front of the desk cleared her throat. "Right! Yes! This is Miss Scarlett Edon, from the Countryside."

"Your highness." Scarlett extended a hand to him. Ben reached out to shake it, her hand, as opposed to say... Audrey's hand, was rough, calloused, it was obvious that she had done a lot of work in her life. Ben let go and stepped back.

"Miss Edon would like to attend Auradon Prep." Fairy Godmother explained.

"I know I'm coming in late but... my grandmother made sure I was well educated, and I'll take whatever tests I have to in order to be placed." the girl seemed kind of nervous, like Jane, but even more wound up. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes. Her hair seemed to be pulled back in an attempt to hide the messiness of it all. Her red hoodie was dirty, as in actually covered with dirt and mud, the same with her dark skinny jeans, they had holes and he honestly couldn't tell if they were meant to be there, like they were in some of Mal's pants, or if they were actual rips.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why am I here?" Ben addressed Fairy Godmother.

"New students are... not common around here, as you well know. Any student wishing to attend Auradon after the first of the year needs permission from the King... which is now you." Fairy Godmother explained.

"Okay." Ben nodded slowly, that made sense. "Why do you want to attend Auradon now? Why didn't you come sooner?" He gave his attention back to Scarlett.

"Well, in Countryside, we're not required to send our kids to school... because typically farm hands are more necessary. I worked on my grandmother's farm since I was a kid... she died recently and I want to do something else. I don't want to be a farmer." Scarlett answered, her eyes focused on the King as she shoved her shaking hands into her hoodie pocket.

"Who are your parents?"

"Red Riding Hood."

"And your father?" Scarlett simply shrugged in response.

"My mom died when I was young so my grandmother took me in. She's the only parent I've ever really known."

"Alright, have her take placement tests, find her a room- do you have any bags?" Ben looked around, Scarlett pointed to a small, beat up back pack in the corner. "Give her some money for clothes and necessities."

"Yes, your highness." Fairy Godmother nodded and went about getting the stuff together for it. Ben gave a final nod and headed out of the room.

"Wait!" Scarlett ran out of the room out of him. "Thank you." The sheer amount of passion and graditude behind it actually shocked him.

"Don't thank him quite yet." Fairy Godmother leaned in the doorway. "There is only one room available. And it's with Audrey."

* * *

 **I couldn't help myself. I had to do another story. I'm adding the info for Scarlett and this story on my tumblr. If you like the story, let me know. If you don't like it, let me know. I think I'm going to try and go back and forth posting one chapter ever other day between this story and The Guardians. If you haven't read that one, you should definitely check it out. Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Right this way." Ben led Scarlett through the hall, towards her new room. Fairy Godmother said she would set up the tests for her to take tomorrow, after sleep... and a shower. Definitely a shower. Ben walkd up to a door and knocked on the hard, dark wood.

"Com in." A sweet voice rang out and Ben pushed the door open. Scarlett followed him into the room, done up in pinks and pale blues. It was a girly paradise, but at the same time it didn't look childish. "Benny B- Ben, What's this?" Audrey, daughter of Sleeping Beauty sat at her desk, a pink pen clutched in her small hand.

"Audrey, this is Scarlett, your new roommate. Scarlett, this is Audrey."

"Princess Audrey, right?" Scarlett asked. Audrey's sour expression changed, brightening exponentially.

"Exactly, and what Kingdom are you from?"

"I'm actually from Countryside." Scarlett admitted.

"I'll just let you two get aquainted, Scarlett if you need anything let me know."

"I could use some soap or something..."

"You can use mine." Audrey offered.

"Nevermind then." Scarlett shrugged and Ben slipped out of the room, leaving the two girls alone together.

"So what's it like in Countryside?" Audrey asked. "The pictures look beautiful, but I've never been out there myself.

"It's alright." Scarlett answered. "You wouldn't want to go there though."

"Why not?"

"The whole place smells like cow pies."

* * *

Nothing in the universe felt better than a shower after a week without one. Scarlett stood under the spray, letting the grime and dirt roll off of her. Audrey's soap smelled like flowers and sugar, her shampoo smelled like strawberries. Nothing Scarlett would have ever used at home, but it was nice. She washed her hair twice to make sure it was really clean, actually regretful when she had to get out of the shower. She stepped out, grabbing the fluffy towel from the rack, she wrapped one around her body and used the smaller one to dry her body and her hair, heading into the bedroom.

"Hey Audrey-" Scarlett cut off when she realized the room was empty, but on the little table in the middle of the room sat a pile of pink and blue cloth, with a note on top, as well as a hair brush.

 _Scarlett,_

 _I had to run to the library to do some research for my paper. I figured you could use these. Also, if you get hungry, the kitchen is usually open all night, it's on the first floor, the east wing. Don't bother locking the door, no one would mess with my stuff._

 _Audrey._

Scarlett sat the note to the side and picked up the pajama top Audrey had left for her. It was silk and, like everything else the girl had, was pink and pale blue. Scarlett quickly picked up the brush, running it through her long blonde hair and then dropped the towel, slipping into the pajamas. The silk was buttery and soft and honestly felt like she was wearing nothing. The most luxurious pajamas Scarlett had ever worn, and the slippers Audrey had left were like walking on a cloud. Scarlett, however, had never been a fan of shoes, so she left the slippers behind, ignoring how tired she was, determined to find the kitchen that Audrey had mentioned, her stomach growling at the very thought of food.

It wasn't difficult to find, she made her way down to the first floor, following her own mental compass to the east, it was pretty deserted, but she assumed most people were asleep or doing homework. She could smell the kitchen as she walked down the hall and she pushed open the door, her eyes widening.

Behind the doors she found the nicest kitchen she had ever seen in her life, it was huge, filed with everything she could ever need to cook with. Scarlett crossed to the giant fridge and freezer, finding it stuffed with food. Scarlett grabbed bacon, hamburger meat, bread, cheese, after a moment of thought she added a bottle of barbecue sauce to the pile, taking it to the kitchen island, she hunted down a pan, cooking the bacon, then the beef, adding the sauce to the beef, making herself a big loose meat sandwich, one of her grandmother's specialties.

"So hungry." Scarlett muttered, putting the finished sandwich on a plate. She took a moment to tuck a napkin in her collar, to protect Audrey's pajamas, and dug in, ravonously chowing down on the food, not giving any regard to being proper or neat about it. She heard the door open and she paused, her head jerking up to watch as the pretty blonde boy walked in, freezing when he saw her, the lower half of her face smudged with sauce.

"What in the- Who are you?" The boy asked, confused. Scarlett finished chewing the food in her mouth and swallowed it.

"Scarlett Edon... I'm new... I guess." She answered.

"Oh dear charming please tell me you're not another Villain Kid." The boy groaned. Scarlett simply shook her head in response. "Who are your parents?"

"My mother is Rose Edon... better known as Little Red Riding hood." She took another bite of her sandwich, still starving.

"And your father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Scarlett finished her meal and used the napkin in her collar to clean her mouth and hands.

"But you don't come from the Isle of the Lost?"

"Nope. Just the country."

"Good." The boy relaxed a little.

"Do I get to know your name or?"

"Oh! Right! I'm Chad, Chad Charming." He smiled brightly at her, his most charming smile. She simply stared at him, unimpressed with the smile. "Right." He cleared his throat. "So what did you make?"

"Sandwich, It was a long journey up here, not a lot of food." Not that it mattered, she ate like an animal most of the time.

"Smells good."

"I'm about to make another one. Want one?" She asked. Chad looked thoughtful.

"Is it organic?"

"Probably not." She shook her head.

"Eh... alright then, it just smells too good." He sighed, taking a seat. Scarlett nodded and turned back to the stove, getting another sandwich started. "Aren't those Audrey's pajamas?"

"Yep, she's my roommate, she lent them to me."

"Don't you have your own pajamas?"

"No... I kind of left in a hurry. I didn't get the chance to pack all my stuff." Scarlett glanced back at him.

"Why a hurry?"

"Why all the questions?"

"I'm just making friendly conversation." Chad smiled again, this time it was a real smile, not his 'princely' smile.

"How about instead of making friendly conversation, you get the bread out of the package and spread the mayo on it?" Chad stared at her a moment, then shook his head, doing just that, helping to cook for the first time in his life.

* * *

 **I am so excited about this story, I have so many ideas and I can't wait to really explore Chad and Audrey, who I refuse to think of as villains. Anyway, another chapter in two days. I have tortilla chips in the oven and work in a couple hours. Check out my tumblr for muse inspo and other cool things. Also reviews would be cool.**

 **Quixotic**


	3. Chapter 3

The placement tests were actually way more difficult than Scarlett had expected. It hadn't occurred to her that her grandma teaching her would leave her at the same level as everyone else. But, much to her relief, she did well enough to make it into her current grade, but just barely.

"Scarlett!" Audrey came rushing towards her new roommate, dressed, as usual, in pinks and blues. A cute little dress that flounced when she walked.

"Hey." Scarlett stopped, she was back in her outfit from the day before, but this time it was clean.

"Ben says you need clothes."

"He's not wrong." Scarlett nodded.

"He gave us permission to go into town to shop!"

"Audrey... As fun as that sound, I don't have any money."

"Of course, Ben took care of that." Scarlett vaguely recalled him telling Fairy Godmother to do something about it the night before.

"I'm not some charity case-"

"No, you're not." Audrey agreed, "But you can't wear the same clothes every day." She pointed out.

"Right..." Scarlett sighed. "Alright, when?"

"Now." Audrey grabbed the girl's hand, dragging her off.

"There was a great township not too far from the school with shops and restaurants, all kind of nice things. Audrey led the way, chatting the whole time about the school and what Scarlett needed to know.

"The children of the Seven Dwarves aren't bad, just... They always tend to be cheerful, except Grumpy's kids, obviously."

"Obviously." Scarlett nodded, walking behind the Princess.

"Then you have my friends, Lonnie, Chad and sometimes Ben and his Villain Kids."

"Chad mentioned them last night-."

"Last night?"

"He walked in on me stuffing my face."

"Ah, well, the Villain Kids are just that, the kids of villains. Mal, Evie, Carlos and... Jay." Audrey smiled softly.

"Jay?"

"Typical bad boy, but so hot."

"Be careful of bad boys, my mom got mixed up with one and here I am."

"I would never allow that to happen. No, I just let Jay endlessly pursue me, hoping one day he'll earn my favor."

"But he never will?"

"Scarlett, I'm a princess. I have to marry a prince. Jay is fun but... He's no prince."

"Isn't that law like, super outdated?" Scarlett asked.

"My grandma is a firm believer in that outdated law." Finally the town came into view and Audrey headed towards one of her favorite stores. "So what is your typical style?"

"Basically, this." Scarlett gestured to her outfit. Audrey actually cringed.

"That won't do."

"Audrey, I'm really not a girly girl. I don't do dressed or skirts or anything like that."

"I can tell. I'm not going to try and make you dress up, but you do nee to wear something nicer to school. No one really wears jeans around there. They're just so rough.. And rough looking." Audrey made another face. "We'll find you something, something that isn't a dress." She promised, heading for her favorite store.

Scarlett followed after her new friend, glancing over her shoulders a couple of times, her shoulders were tense, as if she was looking for someone, expecting someone to jump out of the shadows.

"This is the perfect store, we'll find something for you." Audrey predicted.

"If you say so..."

Almost an hour later, Audrey was still picking out outfits for Scarlett to try on. Scarlett had given up and was just sitting in the dressing room, waiting for Audrey to come back with another pile of clothes. There had only been a few arguments, things that Audrey thought Scarlett _had_ to buy and Scarlett wanted nothing to do with them, but she was thinking about buying a couple, just because Audrey did have good taste and knew better than Scarlett what was considered 'in fashion'.

"Audrey, do you have more clothes? I'm kind of tired of sitting here." Scarlett stuck her head out of the dressing room and sighed, the girl wasn't there Scarlett closed the curtain and reached for her pants, she could only take so much before she lost her mine. She had never been a big shopper. She stopped when she heard someone walking up the little hallway filled with dressing cubicles.

"Audrey?" She called out, holding her pants in her hand. She didn't get a response, so she started to step into the pants, freezing as she realized it definitely wasn't Audrey in the hall, and it definitely wasn't a girl. She quickly wriggled into her pants, grabbing her hoodie, forgoing a shirt, but before she could get it zipped, a folded up note slipped under the curtain into the cubicle. She could hear the person's footsteps as they left. She pressed against the back of the dressing room, staring at the note. She quickly grabbed it as she heard Audrey coming up and shoved it into the pocket of her hoodie.

"Let's go." Scarlett said stiffly as soon as the curtain opened. "This is more than enough." She nodded at the pile of clothes.

"It's really not-"

"It'll do for now, we can come back later if we have to. I'm just... I'm sick of this. I'm not a good shopper." She rambled.

"Alright..." Audrey trailed off. "Do you at least feel like getting ice cream still?" Scarlett took a deep breath, looking for any sign of the person who left her the note. When she felt fairly confident they were gone, she nodded.

"Y-yeah, let's get ice cream." She confirmed.

"Great! I'll take these to the register and then we'll indulge."

* * *

That night, while Audrey was in the shower, Scarlett finally got up enough nerve to reach into the hoodie pocket and pulled out the little note. She slowly unfolded it, her hands shaking as she smoothed out the paper, obviously torn from a notebook, it still had the little tabs on the side.

 _You thought you could hide from me, Little Wolf?_

It wasn't signed, it didn't need to be. She jumped up, balling it up. She walked over to Audrey's side of the room, digging up a pack of matches and she set the piece of paper on fire, her face stark white.

She watched the note burn, closing her eyes as she heard the unmistakable sound of a wolf howling in the distance.

* * *

 **Alright, sorry this took like, forever to put up. Basically the W,E,R and Y keys on my old computer stopped working so I had to buy a new computer because... Well... It's impossible to not use those keys. Anyway, I have a pretty new laptop and I will hopefully be doing a lot more writing, since it has all it's keys in proper working order.**

 **Anyway, Here is chapter three. Reviews would be awesome, so would Favorites and Follows. Chapter four should be coming soon.**

 **Quixotic.**


	4. Chapter 4

" _Scarlett!" 7 Year old Scarlett looked up from her spot, laying on the couch. She was watching TV, something about the Royal families and Prince Ben's birthday. Whatever._

" _What?" She called back._

" _Scarlett Rose Edon, I know you didn't just shout 'What' across the house at me." Scarlett sighed and rolled off the couch. It was a floral couch, Once it had been vibrant and colorful but after so many years and so many asses it was faded, dusty looking no matter how much time they spent cleaning it, and the cushions sagged, no longer able to spring back up when people got up off of it. Scarlett walked into the kitchen where her grandmother was literally up to her elbows in bread dough._

" _Yeah?"_

" _Excuse you?"_

" _I mean, Yes, Grandma?" Scarlett corrected herself. Eliza Edon didn't take flack from anyone, especially her granddaughter._

" _That's better. I'm out of Yeast and still have ten more loaves to bake." Grandma Edon was known for her fresh baked breads. They were always the hit of the City Market on Saturdays. "Get a ten dollar bill from my purse and run into town to get me some more." Scarlett nodded, but hesitated at the door. After a moment, Eliza sighed. "Alright, get a five out too and you can get a soda from the shop."_

 _Scarlett brightened._

" _Thank you Grandma!" She chirped and bounded out of the room, she found her Grandma's purse and took out two bills, a ten and a five, carefully folding them and slipping them into the back pocket of her jeans. She headed for the door, about to open it._

" _And Scarlett, put on a jacket, it's getting chilly out." Scarlett pulled her hand away from the door knob and grabbed her red hoodie from the peg by the door. She slid her arms into it and pulled the hood up over her head to protect her ears before venturing out into the front yard. The Edon's farm was a modestly sized one. They had chickens, a few crops. Their main source of income had to be Grandma's baked goods and, Scarlett liked to think, the little painted rocks she sold alongside her Grandma's bread on Saturdays. Ten cents for the smaller ones, Twenty five cents for the bigger ones. She even managed to get a whole dollar for one once._

 _She headed out of the front gate, closing it behind her, she headed towards the forest. There were two ways to get to the town from Edon Farms. There was the road, it typically was fine to walk on it as long as she kept an eye out for passing trucks. Some zoomed by so quickly they nearly knocked her over. However the road took about twenty minutes to walk there and twenty back._

 _The other way was to cut through the woods. Grandma always told her to stay out of those woods, there were wild animals out there that would eat her up. However, what Grandma didn't know was that Scarlett had started going that way, it only took ten minutes to get to the town and it meant Scarlett had time to play in the arcade at the diner, as long as she remembered to bring some of her rock change with her._

 _Scarlett headed towards the woods, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket, glancing back to make sure Grandma wasn't watching before moving into the line of trees._

 _Scarlett had no idea why Grandma thought the forest was so bad. Yeah, she knew about her mom's story. About how Grandma had sent her daughter off to take a basket of goodies, and she was accosted by a big bad wolf, but in the end, everyone was okay. And, Scarlett reasoned, she was much smarter than that. She knew the difference between a wolf and her grandmother._

 _Scarlett had made it about half way when she heard someone whisper,_

" _Scarlett." She whirled, assuming her Grandma had seen her and followed her out._

" _Hello?" She called out, looking around. She shook her head, she must have imagined it, but she had only made it about ten feet when she heard it again, someone whisper her name._

" _Tommy, is that you? It's not funny. And I'm not afraid of you." Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest, blaming one of the boys from town. She went back to walking, moving a little faster. She heard her name again and she started to jog, then run. She just wanted out of the woods. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She didn't know how to explain it but she knew something was wrong, that her Grandma was right, she should stay out of the woods._

 _Scarlett kept running glancing to the left, her heart nearly stopping as she saw a dark figure running between the trees. She knew she was close to the end of the woods. She just had to get a little further. She heard the figure coming closer, fewer trees between them._

 _She burst out of the woods, but didn't stop running until she got into town. She bought her Grandma's yeast, trying to tell someone about what happened, but no one had the time to listen. Scarlett headed back home, taking the long road, completely forgetting about the soda that was suppose to be her treat, all the girl wanted as to go home and to feel safe again on that old, faded floral couch._

* * *

 **You guys know that feeling when you have eighty story ideas and you want to start all of them? I'm going through that right now. It's both awesome and horrible. Anyway, I think I'm actually going to post the next chapter of The Guardians today too. I'm not sure. I mean, it's written.**

 **Anyway, I have to get to work. Another chapter soon. Check out my tumblr for cool extras. Also Favorite, Follow and Review... you know... if you want.**

 **Quixotic**


	5. Chapter 5

Scarlett's first day of classes were the next day and she didn't get nearly enough sleep. She had been up most of the night thinking about the note, about what it meant. She thought this place would be her safe haven and after only a day it was back to the same old.

She eventually got out of bed, dressing for her first day of class, with some help from Audrey, Of course.

And after walking out into the hall, she was glad she'd had the help. Everyone was dressed nicely, like Audrey. She was glad she had gone with Audrey's suggestion... Or demand... That she get things other than normal blue jeans. Audrey hadn't forced her to get any dresses, but she had pushed pants that weren't simple blue denim. Audrey showed Scarlett to her first class and the girl pushed the door open, going in and quickly finding a seat.

Scarlett opened her back pack, something else Audrey had helped her pick out and pulled out some of the supplies that had been provided to her. Scarlett had never owned any of this stuff, yeah they had pens and pencils, but she'd never really had notebooks, she never really took notes. She was completely home schooled by her Grandma.

She opened it to the first page and went to write on the top but stopped, realizing she had nothing to write. She put the pencil down, unsure of what to do next.

"Hey, new girl." Scarlett jumped a bit when someone plopped into the seat next to hers, relaxing when she saw it was Chad. "Geez, calm down, it's just me." He smiled at her.

"I'm jumpy. It comes naturally." She replied, running a hand through her long hair.

"There's nothing to be jumpy about around here." Chad promised. He pulled out his own notebook, his already had notes in it.

"Right. Of course. It's just a hard habit to break." Scarlett gave a nod and tapped her notebook with her pen. The door opened in the front and their teacher walked in, Philoctetes. He started in on the lesson and Scarlett became obsessed with making sure she wrote down as much as possible.

After what felt like years, it was time for lunch. Scarlett got a tray of food and headed into the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit. There were dozens of tables, all of them had a few people at them, all chatting happily, or in some cases, sitting around looking sullen. It was basically your average high school cafeteria.

"Scarlett! Over here!" She turned, brightening when she saw Audrey waving at her. At the table sat Audrey, Chad and two other girls. One wore blue and pink, like Audrey but hers were brighter, the other wore Blue and a pale purple bow at her neck.

"Jane, scoot over so Scarlett can sit next to me." The girl in blue and purple scooted and Audrey followed suit, giving Scarlett the seat at the end of the table. The blonde put her tray down and sat in the seat. "Scarlett, this is Lonnie, her parents are Mulan and Shang. And this is Jane. She's the Fairy Godmother's daughter.

"Fairy Godmother? As in… the Headmistress? That's got to be fun." Scarlett commented.

"Oh, no." Jane shook her head, not saying anything else.

"Alright then." Scarlett glanced at Audrey, who shrugged. Scarlett brushed it off and turned to her tray, picking up her burger, she dug in, scarfing half her burger before she realized they were staring at her. She paused, looking up to find Lonnie and Chad, who were sitting across from here, staring. She glanced over at Audrey and Lonnie were doing the same. She put down the burger, swallowing her mouthful and she sat upright.

"Sorry…" She picked up her napkin and wiped her mouth. "Just… really hungry, you know?" She cleared her throat and picked the burger again, this time eating it a bit slower.

"So who are your parents?" Lonnie asked. Scarlett shrugged one shoulder.

"Ruby Edon."

"Who?"

"Most people know her as Little Red Riding Hood." Scarlett amended. "And my dad was a demon from the underworld."

"Really?" Jane asked, her eyes wide.

"No. I have no idea who he was. Probably a farmer. A farmer with a crazy appetite." She took another bite of her burger, almost done.

"Do you want mine?" Audrey asked. "I don't like cheeseburgers."

"You don't- You don't like cheeseburgers?" Scarlett asked, looking at Audrey like she was insane.

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Then yes, I will happily take it." Scarlett confirmed, taking the burger off Audrey's tray, she plopped it on hers, going back to eating. She had just finished her own burger when she heard a scream. Scarlett jumped up, whirling to find the source of the scream. She found it pretty easily, two boys, one with stark white hair and the other with long black hair. The black haired boy was holding the smaller, white haired boy upside down and he had been the one to scream. Scarlett growled under her breath and sat.

"I told you, Scarlett, no need to be so jumpy around here." Chad commented.

"Sorry- Where I'm from when someone screams it means something bad happened, like a fox in the chicken coop. Or an attack from the big bad wolf."

"That's another joke right? I mean, the Big Bad Wolf was sent to the Isle." Jane looked to the other girl.

"Right, it was a joke." She confirmed, picking up the second burger, her heart pounding. "There is no such thing as the Big Bad Wolf."

 **A little late but here is the next chapter. This was going to be longer but I'm going to divide my original idea into two chapters. So for those of you that are curious, this should be a stand alone story, no sequel but… I loves me a sequel so we'll see.**

 **Reviews are awesome. Favorites and Follows are just as awesome. And if you're bored, check out my tumblr (thequixoticwrites . tumblr . com) for character stuff and to see who I cast as Scarlett. I hope you all have a great day!**

 **Quixotic**


	6. Chapter 6

Scarlett managed to tough her way through the rest of her classes, the only issue came when she realized someone had put her in chemistry. She didn't know who had come up with that joke, but she wasn't laughing. It wasn't even a little funny. There was just too much math involved and she wasn't good at that at all. Grandmother's idea of Chemistry was teaching her to bake. Scarlett could do that, she was actually pretty good at that, not as good as Grandmother had been, but no one was as good as Grandmother. She had the magic touch.

But not actual magic of course, that wasn't allowed.

Despite that, the day had actually been pretty good. Scarlett had decided to go for a walk after classes, get use to her new surroundings. She slowed as she heard the barking.

"Dude!" came a cry from somewhere behind the dog. Scarlett turned to see a small mutt running at her, the white haired boy from the cafeteria running after it. Before the boy could get too close, Scarlett growled at the dog, stopping him in his tracks with a whine.

"Hey." The boy slowed to a stop and and picked up the still whimpering dog. "Sorry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Scarlett answered, her eyes trailing past the boy to the group running up behind him, it was a fairly large group, including King Ben. "Dogs don't tend to like me… at all. The dog on the farm was worse than this."

"Weird." The boy replied. "I thought Dude liked everyone."

"Scarlett, this is Carlos." Ben introduced. "And Evie, Doug, Jay and Mal."

"Ahh." Scarlett nodded slowly, taking a good look at all of them, especially Jay. "I've heard a lot of vague things about you all."

"From who?" Evie asked, a little defensive.

"Does it matter?" Scarlett shrugged.

"It was Chad, wasn't it?" Mal accused.

"He was one of them, sure." Scarlett confirmed.

"Look, Scarlett, I want to let you know, because he did it to me, Chad uses people, girls. He gets them to do his work."

"His work? Like… Chores?"

"School work." Evie specified. She seemed like she was actually trying to help, worried about her. Scarlett sighed.

"Evie, if Chad is after me for my brains, he's barking up the wrong tree. I'm no genius, I'll be doing good to get my own homework done." She shook her head. "And if it does turn out he's using me, then I'll take care of him like we do in the country."

"How's that?" Jay asked.

"Well, normally my daddy would go after him with a shotgun, but seeing as that's not possible, I'll have to take care of it myself." She shrugged.

"Just… be careful." Evie warned.

"Got it." Dude started to growl again, still in Carlos's arms. Scarlett stared the dog down, quirking an eyebrow and the dog settled, whimpering.

"I really don't know what's gotten into him." Carlos insisted.

"It's fne, really." Scarlett held up her hands. She glanced up towards the tree line, freezing when she saw it, a quick flash of black fur, she was sure that was what she was seeing.

"I have to go." She declared.

"What?" Ben look over his shoulder in the direction she was staring, he saw nothing so he looked back. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great, peachy keen I just… I have to go." She started walking backward, afraid to turn away from the woods until she had moved a good two hundred feet, then kept walking, not running. She didn't want it to turn into a predator and prey moment.

"That was weird to you guys too… right?" Mal asked.

As soon as Scarlett was safely in the school, she ran to her dorm. Audrey was sitting on her bed, writing in a pink journal, but she stopped when she saw Scarlett.

"Are you okay?" She asked, standing up, her friend was stark white, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.

"Are wolves common around here?"

"What?"

"Wolves, are they common, like are there any in the woods around here?"

"No, of course not."

"What animals normally are?"

"Birds, squirrels, probably foxes, I'm not sure. They don't let dangerous creatures in the woods though, not when they're so close to the school. Any dangerous creatures like that are relocated when they're seen."

"How often do they check?"

"When they're called, why, did you see something?"

"Maybe?" Scarlett admitted. "I don't know." The more she thought about it, she realized it could have been something else, maybe a bush in a bad light, maybe it had been a dark colored squirrel jumping from branch to branch, she started to relax a little as she realized she was probably wrong.

"I mean, if you tell Ben, he can have the woods inspected, just in case."

"I might… He did just see me spaz out after all." That would help at least, to confirm that there was nothing out there. "I also met your Jay."

"He's not my Jay."

"He's totally your Jay. He's cute. I can see what you like about him." Scarlett walked to the window, looking out, she didn't see anything to worry about so she sat in the window seat with her back to the woods.

"He is pretty cute, and still not my Jay."

"Suuuure Audrey."

"Anyway, you should definitely tell Ben about what you saw." Audrey changed the subject. "If there is a wolf out there, it needs to be dealt with before it hurts someone. Wolves are dangerous."

"You don't have to tell me." Scarlett muttered, resolving to bring it up to Ben the next day.

* * *

 **I planned out... most of this story. I'm at like... chapter twenty five or something and it's not done so... it's going to be a pretty long story. Which I think is cool at least. Reviews are awesome. Favorites are Awesome and Follows are awesome. And honestly they make my day so if you have a few extra seconds just toss one more more of those my way, thanks!**

 **Quixotic**


	7. Chapter 7

" _How much for a dozen apples?"_

" _For you? Four dollars." Scarlett sighed and leaned against the pole holding the tent over the fruit stand in town. She had agreed to come with Grandma in the hopes that she would buy her a cupcake or something at the end. Grandma was a great baker but didn't like to make cupcakes._

" _Deal. I'll be by to pick them up on the way back home." Grandma handed over the four dollars and the man picked up the basket, putting it to the back so no one would try and buy them._

" _Sure thing Ms. Edon." He smiled brightly at her. Grandma Edon was well liked in the community. It was a small town, mostly consisting of farmers and farm hands. The Edons employed a few men from town during harvest and planting season, as the two girls couldn't handle all of it on their own._

" _Grandma, how many more places are we going?" Scarlett asked as they moved onto the next stand._

" _As many as I please, Scarlett Rose." Grandma replied, her little handbag hanging from the crook of her arm. "I told you that you could stay home."_

" _But you didn't tell me this was going to take three years."_

" _Enough, Scarlett." Grandma looked at the girl, who crossed her arms over her chest. The twelve year old didn't like being at home alone, she had started hearing wolves out in the woods by the house and she didn't want to risk one finding their way into the house. Part of her knew that was a silly fear but it still worried her._

" _Fine." She muttered, walking behind her grandmother to the next stand._

" _Hello there Ms. Edon, Miss Edon." Grandma and Scarlett turned to see Ezekiel James sauntering over to them. Grandma reached over, drawing Scarlett closer to her._

" _Ezekiel." She drew her lips into a tight line. Everyone knew that Ezekiel James was trouble. He brought destruction with him where ever he went. He had been in town off and on for years. Every time he was spotted, bad things were coming._

" _And how are you lovely ladies this morning?" He asked._

" _We are fine." Grandma answered. "In a hurry though."_

" _That's too bad, I always look forward to a chance to catch up with old family friends." The man grinned, his eyes trailing over to the small blonde girl. "I haven't seen little Scarlett in years."_

" _I don't think we've ever met." Scarlett replied dryly._

" _Scarlett, hush." Grandma snapped._

" _Oh that's where you're wrong, Little Wolf." Ezekiel leaned down so he was about the same height as the girl._

" _Little wolf?" She asked, curious._

" _Edon, it's often associated with wolves, in french." He explained._

" _You don't look like the kind of guy who dabbles in foreign language."_

" _Scarlett, enough. Let's go." Grandmother grabbed the sleeve of Scarlett's red hoodie to drag her away._

" _Better be careful, Elizabeth. She's turning out just as beautiful as Ruby… just as wild too, it seems." Ezekiel smirked and took a few steps back before walking away._

" _He knew my mom?" Scarlett asked, looking over her shoulder at the man._

" _Don't listen to him, Scarlett, he's a liar." Grandma warned, pulling her towards the Cupcakes she had been craving all day._

 _Scarlett's arms were tired from carrying the dozen apples home from the market._

" _Next time you're going to get that many, can we take the truck?" Scarlett asked, rubbing her sore arms._

" _You know I don't like using up gas."_

" _Yeah, but my arms feel like wet noodles."_

" _Oh stop your belly aching, you're a strong young woman, you can handle it." Grandma replied. She was in the kitchen, working on dinner. Scarlett wandered in, peeking in the pot to see how it was going, then she went to set the table, getting out their usual dinner plates, the forks and spoons and knives. Even if they didn't use them all, Grandma liked to have them all out, it looked nicer, she argued. Scarlett placed them on the table and got two drinking glasses down._

" _Scarlett… sit down for a second." Grandma nodded at the table. Scarlet walked over and took a seat._

" _What did I do?" She asked._

" _You didn't do anything, baby." Grandma promised, walking over she lowered herself into the other chair. "I need to talk to you about Ezekiel."_

" _He's my dad… isn't he?" Scarlett asked._

" _No- oh goodness no." Grandma shook her head. "I promise you, Ezekiel James is not your father." Scarlett let out a sigh of relief._

" _Good." She nodded._

" _I want you to promise me you'll stay away from him though."_

" _Why?"_

" _He's a bad man, Scarlett, and he is trouble. Not the kind of person you need to be hanging around with. Promise me, if you see him, you'll turn and go the other way. Stay as far away from him as you possibly can."_

" _Okay… Okay."_

" _Say it."_

" _I promise. I promise if I see Ezekiel James, I will turn and walk away from him." Scarlett promised._

" _That's my girl." Grandma reached out, pulling the pre-teen into a hug. "Now go wash your face, you still have frosting on your mouth." Scarlett wrinkled her nose at her grandmother and hopped up, heading back towards the bathroom._

" _Hey Grandma?" Scarlett called over her shoulder._

" _Yes?"_

" _You've been hearing the howls too, right?" There was a clank of metal against metal, Scarlett guessed it was the spoon against the pot and a moment later Grandma appeared in the mirror behind her._

" _What did you say?"_

" _The howls… you've heard them too right? I think we might have wild dogs, or wolves or something. I'm worried they might go after the chickens." Scarlett picked up a wash cloth and wet it, running it over her mouth and cheeks._

" _I'll call Daniel Stevens in the morning. He'll go out and take care of any wolves out there. You stay out of the woods, you hear?"_

" _I don't go out into the woods anyway." Scarlett shrugged, and that was true, every since she was seven, and was chased by… whatever it was she was afraid of the woods._

" _Good." Grandma walked to the open window, looking out towards the woods, she closed the window with a solid 'Thunk'. "Good."_

* * *

 **another day, another Chapter. I've been on a roll and I'm pretty happy about it. Chapter eight will be coming soon!**

 **Quixotic**


	8. Chapter 8

Scarlett figured out which room was Ben's the next morning and went there first thing. She knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, feeling nervous. She didn't want this nightmare to follow her, she would rather she was seeing things than for this all too be real. Finally the door opened and a sleepy looking Ben stuck his head out.

"Scarlett?" He yawned. "What's up?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"It's early- too early- isn't it?" She realized.

"A little, but don't worry about it, come in." He stepped back from the door so she could walk in. His room was huge, bigger than her and Audrey's room. There was a giant four poster bed, the blankets all wadded up, obviously he had just gotten out of bed. He wore royal blue pajamas with Yellow lining, his dark blonde hair was messy and he was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"It has to do with yesterday." Scarlett stood by the door, unsure where to go.

"Have a seat." Ben nodded at a couple of plush chairs by the window. She hesitated but went over, sitting down. "Give me just one moment." He smiled and walked out of the room, through another door. Scarlett kept her back to the window, refusing to look out… just in case.

A few minutes later Ben walked back out, this time dressed for the day, in his usual blazer. He walked over and sat in the other chair.

"Alright, What's up?" He asked, not seeming at all bothered by the early morning intrusion.

"Okay, um… Yesterday, while we were all talking, I looked out into the woods and I thought-"

"You thought?"

"I thought I saw a wolf. Like a big, dark wolf."

"A wolf?" Ben frowned.

"Yeah, we get them back home and I had some… bad experiences with one, so I got kind of freaked out, hence me bolting, but I talked to Audrey and she said I should tell you so you can have the woods checked… or something."

"Well Audrey was right." He nodded. "We take things like that serious. Students go into the forest all the time and we don't want to risk anyone getting hurt." Scarlett stood up, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants. "I'll make the call to get someone out here to check as soon as they open up."

"Great. Thank you, Ben I just… It was a huge wolf, make sure they're properly prepared." She insisted.

"I will, promise." He smiled brightly, standing up. "How are you liking school? I noticed you and Audrey have hit it off."

"I like it." Scarlett nodded. "And Audrey is probably the best friend I've ever had." She admitted.

"Great. I'm glad." Ben grinned.

"Yeah, anyway I'll go, let you get to… whatever it is you can find to do this early. Thanks Ben."

"For what?"

"For listening." She replied, heading for the door. "I'll see you later." She walked out of the room, letting the door close behind her.

"Come on, Scarlett." Audrey led the way towards the locker rooms. She had explained gym class to the girl before, reminded her to grab the yellow shirt and blue shorts the school had provided. They went to the room to change and headed out to the field.

"So what do we do in gym?" Scarlett asked.

"Well right now, the boys play Tourney, they need extra practice, and the rest of us do something else." Audrey explained. They headed out to the field, where the boys were all dressed in their Tourney pads, getting ready to play.

"Alright, we have a big game this week, we are going to have to work hard to get up to the level we need to be at." The coach announced. "So, anyone not on the team, you get an easy week, take a seat on the bleachers, team, on the field." Scarlett remained on the sideline as everyone split up to go to the right places.

"Scarlett." Audrey called, Scarlett turned.

"I'll watch from here." She smiled, and looked back to the field as the guys set up to play. She remained silent as they started to play, crossing her arms over her chest as Ben, Jay, Chad, Carlos and all the other boy son the team ran, shouting to each other, laughing. They scored a goal, and the whole time, Scarlett watched with her arms over her chest.

"Impressed?" Coach asked the girl.

"No." She answered, looking up at him. "I could do better than that."

"Oh yeah? You think so?"

"I know so." Scarlett replied. "Got an extra set of pads?" She asked. The coach gave her a small smile.

"Sure do, storage shed over there, let's see what you got." Scarlett headed for the shed and a few minutes later, she came out, shoulder pads on, helmet on her head.

"Alright, Blondie, let's see what you've got." The coach nodded at the girl, sending her out to the field. Scarlett headed out there and by this time, everyone else had realized there was a new player in the game.

"Coach, we can't play with a girl, I don't want to hurt her." One of the boys complained.

"Good, then that will make hurting you that much easier." Scarlett replied, adjusting her grip on the stick.

"Come on, Samir. Less whining, more playing." Chad called out. The boy who had complained darkened, but took his position. The coach blew his whistle and Scarlett took off. She was fast, Ben got the ball, looking for someone to throw it to, Scarlett was already halfway down the field.

"Scarlett!" He called, she turned, still running backwards, Ben chucked the ball and she jumped to catch it. She jumped over Samir, who had tried to dive in her way. She threw the ball to Chad, who threw it to Jay. Scarlett sped up, seeing another player going after Jay, She didn't know the rules on tackling, as she hadn't seen a lot of it, so she slid into their path, wincing as the player's cleat cut into the flesh of her leg, but he went down to the ground, like she wanted and Jay scored a goal.

"Yes!" Ben cheered, Chad ran over to help Scarlett up.

"You're bleeding." Chad exclaimed. Scarlett looked down at the cut on her leg, a small dribble of blood making it's way towards her sock.

"Yeah, I am." She nodded. She shrugged it off. "I've had worse." She smiled

"Nice job, Blondie." The coach held his hand up for a high five. "If I could put you on the team I would."

"It's cool. I don't want to be on the team… as long as I get to play in class."

"Consider yourself the permanent class team captain."

* * *

 **Sorry about the delay. I was super busy with baby sitting and I went to see Suicide Squad. Plus now I have Harry Potter and the Curse Child to read. But here is Chapter 8. I'm honestly still working on planning this story out and I have over thirty chapters planned, but I am sure I know how it's going to go down, the question is whether or not I'm going to make this a stand alone or not... I'm not good at stand alones.**

 **Anyway, check out my tumblr for cool stuff!**

 **Quixotic**


	9. Chapter 9

It had been two weeks since Scarlett had gone to Ben about what she had seen in the woods. Since then, he had made the call to get them inspected and that morning, he had gotten the information he'd been waiting for.

"Hey Scarlett?" Ben walked up to the girl after classes, as she was putting thing into her locker.

"Yeah?" Scarlett turned to look at the King. She looked tired, bags under her eyes, but other than that, she seemed fine. Ben knew she was doing well in her classes, not the top of her class, but she was passing. She and Audrey spent a lot of time together, much to Jane's chagrin, as she had just managed to get in Audrey's clique after years of work, and this new girl just got to jump into it.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried.

"I'm fine." She answered quickly. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know, the inspector came by the morning, he finished his sweep of the woods."

"Yeah?"

"And he didn't find any wolves. He did, however, find evidence that a wolf had been out there, but he says it looked like it cleared out recently, have you seen one since?"

"No." She admitted. "But I haven't been looking out into the woods much."

"Well the good news is, you're not crazy, there were one out there, but it's gone now."

"And he's sure it's gone?"

"Very, very sure. He is the best we've got, Scarlett, and if the wolf was still out there, he would know it." Ben assured her. Scarlet nodded slowly, looking thoughtful.

"Good… Great." She smiled. "That's probably the best news I have heard in a long time. Thank you." She dropped her bag and hugged the King. He seemed surprise but hugged back.

"No problem, Just remember, if you see anything, tell me, I take it all very, very seriously."

"I will." She promised, nodding rapidly. "I will." She picked her bag back up and headed down the hall. Ben reached out, closing her locker for her, as she'd walked off and left it open.

Scarlett ran down the hall and towards her dorm. No wolves. The wolves were gone. She could relax, she could sleep. She opened the door to the room, throwing her bag to the side, she practically dove onto the bed, closing her eyes as she sank into the soft mattress. She was only there a few minutes before the door opened again and Audrey came bounding in.

"Hey Scarlett." She sing-songed, going to her own bed.

"Hey Audrey." Scarlett replied, her voice muffled by the bed.

"How were classes?"

"Awful, as always." Scarlett answered, sitting up. "But I got great news after class."

Chad asked you out?"

"What?"

"Nothing, what news?"

"Ben said the inspector finished searching the woods, the wolves that were there are gone now." She smiled.

"You were like, crazy worried about that wolf thing, what's up with that?"

"My family has a history of problems with wolves." Scarlett pointed out.

"True." Audrey nodded. "I guess that makes sense but like… you haven't been attacked right?"

"Right… I just have a weird paranoid fear, you know?" Scarlett shrugged. Audrey looked thoughtful."

"Well I'm glad you got such good news, now maybe you'll sleep, you're starting to look insane." She informed her friend.

"Thanks." Scarlett, rubbed her eyes.

"and yet despite that, Chad seems very, very interested."

"Yeah, right." Scarlett laughed. "Prince Charming would never have anything to do with a Country girl with a fear of wolves and a face only a mother could love at this point."

"This Prince Charming seems really into a Country girl with the worst eye bags I've ever seen in my life."

"Thanks, Aud."

"No problem Scar." Audrey grinned, walking over, she sat on Scarlett's bed. "Tell me about the Country. You always avoid talking about it, I want to know what it's like."

"It's really nothing special, I promise. Grandma and I lived on Edon Farms. It was a huge space of land, at least it felt huge when I was a kid, as I got older I learned it was actually pretty small compared to what some other farms had, but whatever." She shrugged. "We had some chickens, an evil goat, all the fun stuff." She crossed her legs up on the bed. "I promise you Countryside isn't all that interesting." She shook her head.

"But I mean, you grew up there, there had to be something good about it."

"Oh, there was a lot of good. I really liked it there. I loved waking up early, feeding the chickens, helping Grandma bake her bread and her pies. I liked going into town for sodas or when we had the occasional event, like the County Fair. That was always fun. It just… I don't think it would be considered interesting compared to what you have going on around here.

"What's a County Fair?" Audrey asked. Scarlett smiled and proceeded to explain to her roommate all about the County Fair and everything that went with it.

By the time the girls had finished talking it was almost midnight, and they were both exhausted.

"I'll shower in the morning." Scarlett decided.

"Me too." Audrey agreed with a yawn, she got up off of Scarlett's bed and headed for her own, the two had stopped talking long enough to get something to eat and change into their pajamas, but now it was late and they were both ready for bed.

"Hey Audrey?" Scarlett pulled the blanket down on her bed, about to get in.

"Yeah?" Audrey paused, looking back at the girl.

"I'm really, really glad I got you for a roommate."

"I'm glad you did too."


	10. Chapter 10

As soon as Scarlett woke up she knew it wasn't going to be a good day. She could feel it in her bones that today was going to unfold into a nightmare. She got up out of the bed and stretched, feeling her joint pop. She was sore and achy, but after a few minutes of moving she felt a bit better.

"You look terrible." Audrey commented, towel drying her hair as she walked into the room.

"Audrey, I think it's safe to assume that this is just how I look." Scarlett commented. "Terrible is my normal."

"That's not true-"

"I'm going to shower." Scarlett popped her jaw and headed into the bathroom, turning on the water. The smell of Audrey's soap was strong, the sweet scent making her a little sick as she turned on the water, not even waiting for the water to warm up, simply stripping off her pajamas and stepping under the icy cold spray. She hissed under her breath, relaxing as the water warmed and she grabbed her own soaps, quickly washing her body and her hair.

By the time she got out of the bathroom she was feeling a little better and got dressed, after a moment of thought she grabbed her favorite red hoodie, sliding it on.

One of her favorite things about Auradon was that they never tried to limit her food. She could eat as much as she wanted and not a single person tried to stop her. She loaded up her tray with sausage and bacon, a huge pile of eggs and a second plate stacked with pancakes. She took it all to the table and sat, digging into her breakfast. Lonnie, Jane, Chad and Audrey stared as she shoved food down her throat, pausing only long enough to take a drink of milk and then went back to it.

"Are you even chewing or just swallowing it whole?" Lonnie asked. Scarlett finally paused and looked up at her.

"I don't even know." She answered, picking up a sausage link.

"You might want to slow down. If you blow chunks in class-."

"Trust me, I won't." Scarlett assured Audrey.

"Are you okay, Scarlett?" Chad looked honestly concerned for her. He reached out and touched her hand, she was hot to the touch, as if she had a fever. "You should go to the nurses' office."

"No, I'm fine." She insisted, pulling her hand back. "I'm just... overheated."

"I've felt that before." Jane replied, looking over at the table where Carlos sat. The others all followed her gaze, confused.

"Ew." Audrey muttered. "Well when you're finished I'll be saving you a seat in class." She chirped to Scarlett and hopped up, heading down the hall. Scarlett glanced up in time to see Jay get up from his seat and follow her.

* * *

Scarlett was on edge for the entire day. Every time someone spoke to her, or walked by, or accidentally touched her she would jump out of her skin. Finally, she excused herself from dinner to go to bed, heading up to her room. Her hands were shaking as she arranged the bedding to make it look like she was there, sound asleep. She knew she didn't have a lot of time. So, she did the best she could to make it look good then grabbed her back pack, slipping back out of the room.

She was doing her best not to run into anyone, moving quietly through the halls. She had spent the past few days paying close attention to the halls and the nooks and crannies where she could get out without being noticed and it worked, she got out the door without running into a single person.

She headed for the woods, practically running to get into the cover of the trees. Scarlett knew today was going to be a bad day from the moment she woke up and it was about to get so, so much worse.

* * *

Six hours later, Scarlett headed back up to the dorm, dropping her bag, she noticed that the blanket was pulled down and Audrey knew she'd been gone. Scarlett looked over at her sleeping roommate and decided to let it be an issue for another day, besides, she had to ask about Jay first. She kicked off her shoes and went into the bathroom, her hair was a mess and she still looked exhausted but she felt a lot better. She turned and went to her bed, simply shoving the mass of pillows out of the way so she could get at least a couple hours of sleep before class.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : Alright, finally, here we are, Chapter Ten. So I have the majority of the story plotted out, I just need to write it and I'm hoping to work more on it in the coming weeks. Any questions, Comments or reviews are definitely welcome.

The Quixotic


	11. Chapter 11

_"I told you you'd have fun."_

 _"Shut up Tommy, You didn't have to convince me I'd have fun, you had to convince me it was worth sneaking out for." Scarlett took a handful of her best friend's popcorn and popped a piece into her mouth. It had been about three weeks since the Ezekiel incident and while Grandma was still on edge every time Scarlett wanted to leave the house, the young girl was over it._

 _"I was right though, wasn't I?" Tommy asked, snatching back a couple pieces from her hand._

 _"Yeah, you were right." She admitted with a shrug. "But I mean, it's the fair, you don't have to be psychic to know it would be fun."_

 _"Just let me enjoy being right."_

 _"It does happen so rarely." Scarlett grinned. Tommy stuck his tongue out and the two friends headed towards the best part of the fair, the corn maze. They finished off their popcorn on the way, dumping the trash into a trash can, meeting up with some other friends._

 _"Alright, here are the rules," Jeanine was the only one of them who was actually thirteen, instead of just twelve, so she generally declared herself the boss, "I have six straws, whoever draws the short straw is It. You have to find the rest of us and as you find us, we're on your team and we help you find the others. Anyone that manages to get out without getting caught wins."_

 _"And what does the winner get?" Joey asked_

 _"Absolutely nothing." Scarlett answered for Jeanine. "What does it matter, we all know you won't win."_

 _"Bite me, Scarlett." Joey muttered._

 _"Where are the straws?" Tommy asked. Jeanine took them from her pocket and they found an adult, asking them to hold them, so Jeanine could play without it being unfair. They each picked their straws, Tommy getting the short one._

 _"Sorry, Tommy." Lexi chirped, heading for the entrance._

 _"Okay, We get a thirty second head start, Then you come after us." Jeanine reminded him._

 _"Ready…" Tommy looked at his watch, waiting for it to tick over. "Go!" He shouted and the other five kids ran into the maze, splitting up as soon as it was possible._

 _Scarlett ran past a couple who was using the time to make out and stepped around Mary Tubbs and her three kids._

 _"You should be at home, Scarlett Edon." Mary called after her. Mary was a good friend of Grandma's and Scarlett knew she'd be in trouble in the morning but for tonight she just wanted to have fun. She slowed down when she felt she was far enough in that she was safe but kept moving. She found the trick was to just keep trying to find her way out, not to hide and wait to get caught._

 _She placed her right hand on the wall of corn stalks and walked, turning when the walls did, when she came across a dead end, she just kept going, not taking her hand off the wall. She made her way down another dead end, following along the walls, jumping when she nearly ran into another figure that hadn't been there a minute ago._

 _"Hello, Little Wolf. Have you been avoiding me?"_

 _"Ezekiel."_

 _"Call me Zeke, all my friends do." The man gave her a wicked grin._

 _"I'm not your friend." Scarlett replied, moving to go around him._

 _"No, but your mom is."_

 _"Was."_

 _"Is." Ezekiel repeated, turning as Scarlett walked past him. The young girl stopped and looked back to the man._

 _"My mom is dead."_

 _"Your Grandma is a liar."_

 _"She wouldn't lie to me about that. You, on the other hand-"_

 _"I can take you to her." Ezekiel offered. "She's in town, she came with me."_

 _"Where is she?"_

 _"Why would I tell you that? Come on Little Wolf, you can trust me." He gave her another, bigger grin. Scarlett could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She heard Tommy calling her name and she looked back over her shoulder. After another minute of thought she nodded._

 _"This better not be a trick." She warned as Ezekiel moved past her._

 _"Of course not, what would I gain from tricking you?" He asked._

 _"Another dead body to add to your collection." Scarlett muttered under her breath. Ezekiel laughed, his laugh was deep and throaty._

 _"I don't care to add infants to my collection." It was on the tip of Scarlett's tongue to argue that she wasn't an infant then realized why that was a dumb argument to make. She swallowed the reply and followed the man through the maze, not questioning it when he didn't get lost once, he knew every turn to take to get out of there._

 _Ezekiel headed towards the woods once they broke out of the corn, his strides fast to the point where Scarlett was practically running to keep up._

 _"Scarlett." She turned and saw her friends all gathered by the exit. She shook her head and just kept after the man who was going to take her to see her mom. She paused as they got to the woods, looking into the darkness between the trees._

 _"Oh come on, Little Wolf. You're not afraid of the woods, are you?" He asked._

 _"Bad history." Scarlett replied._

 _"I can promise you, The Big Bad Wolf won't be messing with you tonight." He quirked an eyebrow. Scarlett looked up at him, she still didn't trust him._

 _"Bring her out here." She demanded._

 _"I can't do that. She won't come out this far, you have to go into her." Ezekiel insisted._

 _"Why?"_

 _"She doesn't want your grandma to find out she's here. Rose left for a reason, Little Wolf." Scarlett thought about it the followed him into the cover of the trees._

 _It wasn't any easier to keep up with him in the woods, she was triping over sticks and roots but he seemed to glide effortlessly over it all. Finally the two of them came to a clearing, There was a tent set up on one side of it, along with a small fire pit._

 _"Rose." Ezekiel called. Scarlett's heart was pounding in her chest, her stomach twisting at the thought of meeting her mother, the woman who had left her behind when she was just a toddler. She held back a scream when instead of her mother a wolf stepped out of the tree line, She took a step back behind Ezekiel, her eyes wide._

 _The wolf bared it's teeth and growled at Ezekiel who didn't seem phased. Then the wolf turned and ran from the clearing leaving them two of them alone._

 _"You think this is funny?" Scarlett shouted, pushing the grown man. He whirled, looking down at her._

 _"No, not really."_

 _"You promised- you made me think- I was hoping-" She couldn't seem to finish a sentence, everything in her brain seemed scrambled, mixed up with fear, disappointment and embarrassment that she let Ezekiel James trick her. She shoved him again and ran off into the trees._

 _"Little Wolf." Ezekiel called after her as she ran. "Scarlett!" She ignored him, not slowing down until she came across the creek. It was small enough that she could jump over it, and had many times before, But the wolf was there, it's head bowed down into the water, drinking. When it heard her, the wolf looked up to her and the girl froze, she could feel the tears running own her cheeks, her breathing labored as she waited for the wolf to make a move. It just stared at her, almost sadly, before turning and walking away. Scarlett stared after it before jumping the creek, heading back to her grandmother's house._

 _She knew tomorrow was going to bring her a world of trouble but tonight, she was going to wallow in self pity and cry herself to sleep._

* * *

Author's Note: I honestly wrote this in about half an hour, I was really feeling this chapter. So I'm doing a bit of a Retcon on Scarlett. Thus far I've been referring to her as a blonde, but I'm changing that. The more I think about her the more I see her as a brunette. I was going to change past chapters but since the documents aren't saved on this site anymore it's just a lot of work. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

Auradon Prep was easily the safest place in all of Auradon. As it was filled with the children of the royal families, there were a lot of safely precautions in place. Every single one of the royal families agreed that, while they were all very anti-magic, they were willing to make an exception for the school. As a result, Fairy Godmother created a magical security system, it could detect any sort of threat to the school and properly warn the occupants of the school.

No one had actually ever experienced that security system, all the villains were off on the island and most of the newly created evil doers didn't make it to the school. Fairy Godmother knew the system worked and it helped everyone sleep a little better at night, but no one actually knew what happened when the system was triggered.

Turned out it was an alarm, a very, very loud alarm completely with flashing lights and Fairy Godmother's voice, amplified over the siren to let them all know there was an emergency and to follow the safety procedures laid out in the student handbook.

The problem being that no one had ever actually bothered to read the handbook, let alone the part that talked about the safety procedures.

"What are we suppose to do?" Scarlett shouted, her hands clapped over her ears.

"What?" Audrey replied, her own hands held up to block out the sound.

"Where do we go?" Scarlett's voice raised, trying to be heard. Audrey just looked at her, confused. Scarlet sighed yanked the blankets from her legs. Everyone had just been heading to bed when the alarms went off. She walked over to the other bed and did the same for Audrey, dragging her out.

"It's so loud." Audrey whined. Scarlett simply dragged her out of the room and into the hall where everyone else was milling about awkwardly. "There." Audrey pointed up at the ceiling. Barely visible there were arrows, pointing. Everyone looked up, following the arrows in a large group. Everyone in their PJs, no one really taking it seriously. After all, nothing bad could happen at Auradon Prep.

"This is a security system right? I mean, this is a big deal."

"I doubt it." Lonnie shouted. "Who's going to attack Auradon?" Scarlet stared at her then looked back over her shoulder as if she'd see something. "Scarlett?" Lonnie asked. Scarlett jumped and headed forward with the crowd.

"Nothing just... nothing."

* * *

"Everyone, quiet!" Fairy Godmother shouted over the buzz of the students. The arrows had led them all to the dining hall, everyone stood together while the teachers all stood up at the front of the room. "There has been a break in at the school."

Those words set everyone off the buzz turned into a dull roar, then a louder roar as everyone freaked out.

"Quiet!" She boomed. "We have professors walking the halls, we are going to find the person who broke in, in the meantime, for the safety of our students, we will be having a sleep over of sorts." She clapped her hands and sleeping bags appeared in everyone's arms. "Girls on the left, boys on the right, Any professor not walking the halls will be patrolling here for anyone breaking the rules." She warned.

"Someone broke into the school? Why? What if they're looting the rooms. What if they steal my family's jewels?" Audrey turned to Scarlett with wide eyes.

"I don't think that's really what everyone should be worried about right now." Scarlett looked around, confused as the Royals worried about their belongings.

"Scarlett, no one is going to come after us. There are too many us." Audrey shook her head.

"That's why they bring us to the dining hall, we're easier to pick off." Chad walked up behind them, placing a hand on Audrey's shoulder.

"Oh my god, Chad, why would you even say that."

"The wolves always pick off the stragglers." Jay appeared in front of them, his eyes on Chad's hand. Scarlett's eyes widened and she stared up at him.

"What?"

"Wolves-"

"Hush, Jay." Audrey scolded. "You know Scarlett doesn't like W-o-l-"

"I can spell." Scarlett interrupted.

"Right... of course."

"Okay, enough." Chad took his hand from Audrey's shoulder. "No more wolf talk." Scarlett looked up at him with thanks and she gripped her sleeping bag a little tighter and moved with Audrey towards the left side of the room. They put down their bags and Audrey crawled right in, laying down and falling asleep. Scarlett smiled softly at the girl, but she knew she'd never get to sleep tonight. She sat down on her sleeping bag settling in for a night of worrying.

"Scarlett." She turned to look and Chad was in the aisle between the girls side and boys side. She glanced around before getting up and stepping over people to get over to him.

"What's up?" She asked, whispering.

"You okay? I know the wolf thing tends to freak you out." Chad took her hand and led her off to the side. "It's not left or right, they can't get mad at us."

"Doesn't mean they won't." Scarlett pointed out. "And yeah... I'm fine. I know he wasn't saying something." She took a seat against the wall, sinking down to the floor. Chad sank down next to her and smiled. He had the Charming smile.

"At least we know it wasn't wolves who broke into the school."

"Yeah..." Scarlett glanced towards the door, as if the person was about to appear there.

"Scarlett?"

"Huh- Yeah, I mean, of course it wasn't a wolf it's just... Kind of scary, you know? I'm use to the farm, where it was definitely not safe, to here, where I thought it was suppose to be safe."

"It is safe. Really, This the first time anything like this has happened." Chad insisted.

"I'm starting to think that maybe I'm the problem." That was a like Scarlett out and out knew she was the problem.

"You, most definitely aren't a problem." Chad leaned over to bump against her.

"Thanks." Scarlett shook her head. 'But you don't know-"

"I know everything I need to. I know that you, Scarlett Edon, are the opposite of the problem."

"I'm a solution?"

"You're The Solution."

"You're a dork." Scarlett let out a laugh then covered her mouth, looking to see if anyone was watching them.

"Yeah, but I'm okay with that." Chad nodded. He hesitated a moment, then leaned in, as if to kiss her.

"Fairy Godmother! Fairy Godmother!" Merryweather came running into the dining hall, huffing and puffing. "You have to see this!"

"Merry, calm down." Fairy Godmother hurried down the aisle, shushing the woman. "What's going on?"

"You have to see this." Merryweather repeated. "It's-" She looked at Scarlett and quickly cut off her words. "Just come with me." She begged. Fairy godmother glanced at Chad and Scarlett before following after Merryweather. Scarlett waited ten seconds before jumping up and following, Chad close on her heels. They nearly ran into Fairy Godmother's back, the woman stopped so abruptly.

Scarlett stepped around her, looking at the words on the wall. She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand and stumbled back. On the floor sat a dead chicken, on the walls, written in the chicken's blood, was

"The Big Bad Wolf is coming for you, Little Wolf"

* * *

 **Author's note** : So I definitely meant to get more writing done today than I have so far, but there is still time. I have decided this is going to be a duology. This story is going to be pretty long as well. I've got a lot of story in me. Reviews are appreciated, and thank you for reading.

The Quixotic


	13. Chapter 13

"I don't know if this is a good idea." Chad said for what seemed like the millionth time.

"I am very aware, but… I don't want to hide forever."

"It's been a week, Scarlett."

"We don't even know that the message was for me." Scarlett lied, pulling up the red hood on her hoodie.

"The Big Bad Wolf? Really? We don't know it was for you."

"Little Wolf?" She countered. Chad paused, as if thinking about it and sighed.

"Okay I have nothing for that but still… There has to be something. This isn't normal."

"It's fine, Chad. Seriously, tonight let's just have some fun. It's a carnival right?" She asked. He nodded. Her last experience at a fair hadn't been great but Audrey insisted the one in Auradon was way better. The two of them were met by the rest of the gang.

"Hey Scar." Audrey walked over, looking Chad up and down before turning her attention to Scarlett. "Are you sure-"

"Yes, I'm sure. I am very, very sure. Look, I know you guys are worried but please stop, I'm just… I want to have fun tonight." She practically begged. "Just a normal night where I can pretend I'm a normal person."

"You are a normal person." Ben spoke up.

"No she isn't." Chad and Audrey answered in unison.

"Thanks, appreciate it." Scarlett quirked an eyebrow at them, slipping her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

"You're going to need a warmer jacket." Carlos warned her. "I'm sure they make thicker red hoodies."

"They probably do, but this one is mine." Scarlett shrugged, walking past him, heading off the grounds towards the town. They all walked together, a large group, kind of moving into couples slowly. Ben walked alongside Mal, their fingers intertwined, Jane and Carlos were whispering together and Evie and Doug seemed attached at the hip, as per usual. Scarlett, though she was walking next to Chad, was watching Jay and Audrey, trying to keep tabs on them and what they were doing.

"Scarlett?" She looked up at Chad, her brown eyes wide.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"I've been talking to you for about the past five minutes…"

"Sorry! Sorry, I just- I know Audrey is into him and I want her to be happy-"

"I think they're doing just fine on their own." Chad glanced over to the couple. Jay had taken Audrey's hand and they were walking a little ways off from everyone else.

"Perfect." Scarlett smiled happily. Chad grinned and placed a hand on her lower back, the group got to the carnival, which was a lot like a fair, in Scarlett's humble opinion and they kind of all broke off, going their own ways. Chad and Scarlett stuck together, heading for Scarlett's favorite, the food.

"Carnival food is delicious, but terrible for you." Chad informed her.

"I'm not super concerned."

"You wouldn't be. You eat more than the rest of us combined." He replied, laughing.

"I'm a growing girl." She shrugged as they got to the front of the line. She ordered fried candy bars and sandwich cookies, pulling out her wallet, before she could get the money out, Chad had already paid, ordering a single funnel cake for himself.

"You didn't have to do that." She commented.

"I know I didn't, I wanted to." he shrugged, picking up his plate when they put it down. Scarlett grabbed her own, biting into the soft melty chocolate from the fried candy bar.

"This is heaven in a deep fried coating." She groaned.

"You're not going to get sick on the rides? Are you?" He asked. She shook her head in reply, stuffing another bite of the candy bar in her mouth.

"Nope." She mumbled around it. He chuckled and started in on his funnel cake.

"How did I know you would start with food?" Audrey appeared with Jay right behind her.

"Because I am nothing if not predictable." Scarlett replied, offering Audrey the last bite. She reached out and took it, grasping it with two fingers, popping the last bit into her mouth.

"Okay, it's pretty amazing." She admitted. Scarlett nodded.

"Right?" She asked. Audrey grinned and took a napkin from Scarlett, cleaning off her fingers.

"Let's go on some of the rides, I'm dying to try out the ferris wheel." She grabbed Jay's hand, dragging him off, with Scarlett and Chad on their heels. The group got in line and after a few minutes of waiting, Jay and Audrey got a seat and Chad was with Scarlett in the next one.

"You're not afraid of heights, right?" Chad asked. Scarlett stared at him a moment and shook her head.

"No, not in the least… why? Are you?"

"No! No, of course not… okay maybe a little, but just a little." He insisted.

"It's okay, You can hold my hand, I'll protect you." She teased lightly. Chad smiled.

"Great, I feel really protected right now." He replied as the ferris wheel started moving, taking them up to the next level.

"So you're really afraid of heights? I thought Charming Men weren't afraid of anything."

"They're not… usually." Chad replied.

"Your castle has towers."

"Towers are stable, with walls. This is a wooden bench on a pole balancing a hundred thousand feet in the air."

"A hundred thousand feet is a little bit of an exaggeration, Chad."

"Not much of one." He insisted. Scarlett smiled and scooted closer to him.

"It's not that scary." She replied, taking his hand. "Just don't look down and we will be fine." She promised. He smiled and she leaned against him. They rode up to the top in virtual silence, making it up to the very tip top.

"It's actually really peaceful, more than I thought." Chad commented.

"Up here it's like there's nobody else in the world." Scarlett agreed. Chad turned so he could look at her,

"Scarlett?" He asked. She turned her attention to him and smiled.

"Yeah?" She replied. Chad hesitated before leaning forward, kissing her. Scarlett's eyes widened as she realized what he was doing, then closed as she kissed back. They pulled away only when they heard cheering from below. Scarlett looked down to find Audrey clapping and whooping, watching them.

"You're a creeper, Princess Audrey." She informed her.

"I don't even care." Audrey called back.

They got down to the bottom, the lap bar releasing. The pair hopped off and walked over where Jay and Audrey were waiting for them.

"I knew it! You two are too adorable together!" Audrey squealed. Chad turned red, looking down and Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"You are completely insane." She insisted, but couldn't stop the smile spreading over her features.

"Guys!" They looked up to find Mal and Ben, along with everyone else, standing around one of the booths. Jay headed that way and the others followed. It was a game, the milk bottles stacked on top of each other that you had to throw a ball at.

"Care to try your luck, your majesty?" The man running the booth asked. "The first throw is free." Ben smiled and took the ball.

"Alright." He nodded. He got into position and threw the ball, completely missing the tower. Ben's smile faltered but he quickly regained it, laughing it off. "Give me another." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the money, handing it over. The man took it and gave Ben another ball. He took a bit more time, lining up the shot and threw it, again missing.

"Come on Ben, you can do better than that." Jay taunted.

"Why don't you give it a shot, young man?" The booth runner held out a ball. Jay took it and Ben moved out of the way. He threw the ball, knocking the top milk bottle down, but the other two remained firmly in place.

"What about you, my boy? Care to try?" Carlos looked up, surprised.

"Oh- No, I don't think-"

"Come on Carlos, You can do it." Jane encouraged, her blue eyes wide with excitement. Carlos thought about it a moment more then took the ball. He stepped back and threw, knocking over all three bottles. Jane brightened and cheered as the man grabbed a stuffed bear for Carlos, who gave it to Jane.

"For believing in me." He explained. She happily took the bear, holding it to her chest. Scarlett laughed, staying close to Chad. She felt a strange pull, she couldn't explain it, it felt like a pull deep inside her chest and she turned, the laugh dying on her lips when she saw him.

"Come, Little Wolf." Ezekiel James beckoned. She stepped closer, moving away from her friends.

"Scarlett?" Mal asked, they followed at Scarlett found herself face to face with the man her grandmother had told her to avoid a long, long time ago.

"Surprised to see me?" He asked with a wicked grin.

"No. Disgusted, yeah, but not surprised." She answered. Ezekiel laughed, throwing his head back as he barked with laughter.

"Just as much bark as ever, Little Wolf." Scarlett felt Chad stiffen next to her.

"What did you call her?" He asked.

"Nothing." Scarlett answered.

"Little Wolf. Let's call it a pet name." Ezekiel looked Scarlett up and down slowly.

"Little Wolf wasn't that-"

"Shhh." Carlos interrupted Jane.

"You're the Big Bad Wolf." Audrey accused.

"Not The. He's just a run of the mill bad wolf." Scarlett corrected.

"I'm here to take you home, Little Wolf. Your mother misses you."

"My mother is dead and I'm not going anywhere with you, Ezekiel James." Scarlett growled.

"Scarlett… is this the person who broke into the school?" Ben stepped in front of the others, shoulder to shoulder with Scarlett.

"I can't say for sure he was." She admitted. "But chances are good." She shrugged.

"Get out of Auradon." Ben ordered. "By order of King Ben of Auradon, you are to get out of my kingdom, if you're not cleared out by tomorrow morning, I will send the royal guard after you. And if I find any scrap of evidence that you broke into my school and threatened one of my friends, I will have the guard find you and send you to the Isle." He threatened. "Stay away from Scarlett and stay away from the school." By the point the guards presiding over the carnival had seen the show and were walking over. "Gentlemen, please escort Mr. James out of the carnival, see to it that he doesn't return."

"Don't bother, I'm going." Ezekiel grinned at Scarlett. "You can't run from me, Little Wolf, not for long. I told you then and I'll tell you now, you can't avoid destiny." He warned, snapping his teeth at the group before stalking off into the dark night.

 **A/N - After a hundred years, here is a new chapter! I'm pretty excited about this story again, I've been feeling a lot of inspiration for this one lately. I'm going to stick to The Curse, The Enchantress's Daughter and Heart of Ice for right now. All three are going to be pretty large stories, probably all duologies. So they'll have sequels. Anyway, as always, if you enjoyed it, or have any comments or questions feel free to leave a review! I have a busy weekend but hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some time to write!**


	14. Chapter 14

"You knew that was about you the whole time." Chad accused, waiting until Ezekiel had vanished into the night.

"Yeah." Scarlett shrugged.

"Why didn't you say anything? We could have-"

"Could have what?" Scarlett turned to Ben. "Kept me locked up in the castle? He got into the castle, so that's not safe." She threw her hands up in frustration. "Ezekiel James has been a thorn in my side since I was twelve years old. I refuse to live my entire life in fear of him and his problems."

"He wrote a note to you in blood, that's more than a thorn in the side." Audrey pointed out.

"It was chicken blood. That barely counts." Scarlett sighed.

"Chickens are people too." Jane muttered.

"Wait- what?" Everyone stopped and looked at her. Jane blushed and shrugged.

"Well now we know the threat, I'll make sure the royal guard keeps an eye out for him. You'll be safe." Ben insisted.

"Right." Scarlett nodded. "I think I'm just going to head back to the school. You guys… have fun." Audrey started to follow but Scarlett turned back to her. "Alone." She added. Audrey slowed to a stop, frowning as Scarlett walked off.

"Hey!" Chad ran after her, Scarlett kept walking, doing her best to ignore him but, turned out the prince was surprisingly fast. He caught up with her, grabbing her arm. She stopped, looking back at him.

"What?" Scarlett asked, her perfect night had been ruined, by the same person who had been ruining her life for as long as she could remember.

"Why didn't you tell us about this? About any of this? Especially after the threat in the school?"

"Ezekiel already scared off my childhood friends. I didn't want him to run you guys off too." Scarlett admitted, looking up at him. "You and Audrey… He has taken so much from me, I wasn't about to let him take you guys too." Chad frowned, looking at her a moment before stepping forward, wrapping his arms around her. He held her tight, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

"Audrey and I aren't going anywhere." He promised her. Scarlett finally relaxed, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"He is the worst." She whispered.

"Ben will keep him away." Chad insisted. Scarlett stepped back and shrugged.

"We'll see about that. No one has ever, to my knowledge been able to stop Ezekiel James when he wants something." She shook her head,

"We will." He started towards the school, Scarlett walked alongside him, not even a little bit convinced of that. "Scarlett?"

"Yeah?"

"This Friday… wanna go on a date?"

"Okay, time to spill the beans."

"What?" Scarlett looked up after Audrey burst into the room.

"Spill the beans, all of them. Tell me about tall dark and creepy, tell me about you and Chad, I need details." Audrey jumped up on the bed where Scarlett had been reading.

"I- Okay it's a long story so let's start with Chad." She didn't really know what to tell Audrey about Ezekiel just yet.

"Fine." Audrey agreed, leaning in, excited.

"He asked me on a date." Scarlett had changed out of her clothes and was in a pair of silky red pajamas, she toyed with the end of her PJ shirt, running her fingers over the smooth fabric.

"Wait- really?" Audrey gasped, "And you said yes."

"I said-"

"Please tell me you said yes, Scarlett you and Chad are so cute together, I mean, I see the way you look at him and the way he talks about you and please-"

"The way he talks about me?"

"Yes, When he talks about you he smiles, not that stupid prince smile either but a big, honest, genuine smile that just lights up the room. The kind of smile he only gets when talking about you and his full length mirror."

"I told him yes, I'd go on a date with him." Scarlett finally confirmed. Audrey screeched.

"I knew it! And that kiss, I saw that kiss."

"He's a pretty great kisser." Scarlett confirmed, blushing and looking down.

"Ugh, you two are just adorable. Promise me I'll be your maid of honor."

"My maid of what now?" Scarlett asked.

"At the wedding, when you become Scarlett Charming, promise me that I will be your maid of honor."

"I am not marrying Chad. Doesn't he have to marry a princess anyway?"

"No, Scarlett, that's such dated thinking. Belle wasn't a princess and she married King Adam." Audrey pointed out. "I mean, both my parents were royalty, but they didn't know that when they met. Chad's mother, Cinderella wasn't royalty. It's been… decades since it was required for Royalty to marry royalty."

"Oh… Well just… trust me, The Charming family wouldn't approve of me and my Countryside ways." Scarlett shook her head, closing the book and tossing it to the side. It was the play they were reading for class. "Anyway, tell me about you and Jay. You guys looked pretty cozy on that ride."

"I… might have told him I hate heights just so he'd hold me close."

"I don't think you'd need to lie to him to get him to hold you. Just say 'Jay, darling Jay, hold me'." Scarlett gasped dramatically and flopped down on the bed next to Audrey, who laughed and shoved her.

"You're being ridiculous," Audrey grinned.

"Yeah, but I'm okay with that." Scarlett poked Audrey's leg.

"Jay is into Lonnie anyway. I don't think he'd want to go out with me."

"Then he's going to be missing out on the best princess in the school." Scarlett rested her chil on Audrey's leg. Audrey smiled and stroked Scarlett's dark hair.

"Lonnie's really pretty."

"She is." Scarlett agreed. "But if he misses out on a chance for something with you, then it's his loss, you're amazing, Auds."

"Thanks, Scar." Audrey smiled softly. "Okay, now, tell me all about Ezekiel."

* * *

 **A/N - After all the drama I needed some cute moments. You know? And Scarlett and Audrey being the best Besties. Reviews, favorites and follows are always appreciated! I'm also thinking about changing my username. So if you see this same story with a new author on it, that would be why!**


	15. Chapter 15

_Scarlett wasn't sure when exactly it happened. When Tommy went from being a gangly kid with a scream higher pitched than her own to a… kind of man. With muscle, and a deep voice and a cute smile. But she did know that one day she realized that something had changed, for the better._

" _Shoot, my parents are home." Tommy whispered frantically when they heard the car pull up. Scarlett rolled out of the bed, grabbing for her clothes. She managed to wriggle back into her jeans, her underwear stuffed into her pocket. She quickly slid into her bra, hooking it and grabbing her shirt before scrambling out the window. The house was a one story so it was easy enough to sneak in and out of. She turned and waved goodbye to Tommy, who was grinning at her through the window._

 _It wasn't easy to find time alone. Her grandma was always home and his parents worked, but his mom worked for the school so she usually got out around the same time they did. Scarlett and Tommy usually managed to sneak in kisses between classes, sometimes slipping away to make out under the bleachers. They went on dates to the diner on friday or saturday nights like most of the teens in the area but actual alone time… that was hard to come by._

" _Did you hear?" Jeanine came running up to Scarlett the next day at her locker._

" _Hear what?" Scarlett asked._

" _He's back."_

" _That's vague."_

" _Ezekiel James, Scarlett. He's back from prison or wherever it was he went." Ezekiel had vanished after that night in the woods and hadn't been back for over three years, Scarlett, personally, was thrilled about it. The name alone left her with a feeling of dread in her gut._

" _Can't the townspeople mob together and run him out of town?" She asked, slamming her locker closed._

" _Why would they do that? He's hot." Jeanine grinned. "Somehow he's managed to get even more attractive while he was gone."_

" _He's not attractive-"_

" _He's hotter than Tommy." Jeanine shot back._

" _Shut up." Scarlett snapped at her, heading for class. "Ezekiel James is a disgusting sorry excuse for a human being."_

" _Fine, then I'll take him." Jeanine smiled._

" _You're sixteen, why would he want you?"_

" _Im sixteen, but I have curves that drive men wild."_

" _Your mama will slap that dirty grin right off your face, Jeanine Nova, if she hears you talking like that." Scarlett stopped outside of her classroom door, looking at her friend._

" _My mama isn't going to hear any of this. You're not gonna tell her."_

" _No. But seriously, stay away from Ezekiel, he's… bad."_

" _I like a little bit of bad."_

" _He's a lot of bad." Scarlett shook her head and pushed open the door to the classroom, taking her seat._

" _Hey." Tommy smiled at her as he sat in his seat._

" _Hey." she replied, her mind still on Ezekiel._

" _Meet me at the diner after school? Ma and Pops are suppose to go out to the Yates' farm to play cards." Scarlett pulled herself from her thoughts and nodded._

" _Yeah." She agreed._

" _Great." Tommy brightened and pulled out his notebook._

 _The Diner was the only place in town to get food outside of your own house. They didn't have great food, but it was a nice place to hang out. Joey and Lexi sat on the top of a table outside, while Jeanine took an actual seat. Tommy sat on the concrete, Scarlett situated between his legs, resting back against his chest._

" _Fry." Scarlett requested. Lexi tossed one and Scarlett dipped to catch it in her mouth._

" _Hey." Tommy tapped on her shoulder. Scarlett, the fry half sticking out of her mouth, turned to look up at him and he leaned in, eating the half that was sticking out._

" _That was mine." She informed him, after she finished chewing._

" _And I stole it." He shrugged, She stuck her tongue out and his arms wrapped around her middle._

" _There he is!" Jeanine stage whispered. They all turned to her, then followed the direction she was pointing. Scarlett's stomach dropped when she saw him. He looked like nothing had changed, he even still wore the same denim jacket._

" _We should go." She said, moving Tommy's arms and standing up. Tommy hurried to stand, grabbing his back pack._

" _He can't run us out of here." Tommy argued._

" _No but- Your parents are probably already gone, do we really want to waste time staring at… him?" Scarlett asked. Tommy smiled and leaned down, kissing her. Lexi and Joey mimed vomiting, but were ignored as Tommy slid his hand around Scarlett's waist, leading her away. Scarlett glanced back at the man, one last time. He was staring right at her, his fist clenched, she could practically see the rage in his eyes. She turned away and wrapped her arm around Tommy's waist, hurrying him along._

 _Tommy's parents had stayed out late, so Scarlett hadn't had to rush out. She had stayed over at Tommy's until way after curfew, and she paid for it the next morning when Grandmother gave her a long list of chores that kept her working until the afternoon._

 _Finally all the laundry was done, the things that couldn't go in the dryer were on the line, The chickens had been fed, her room was clean, the dishes were done and the small tomato garden had been weeded and Scarlett was free to go out. She grabbed her hoodie on the way out, running most of the way to the town, heading for the diner. She saw Tommy's bike and she brightened, pushing the door open._

" _Hey To- Oh my god, what happened to you?" Scarlett gaped at Tommy, he had a black eye, a split lip and she could see, under the bruising, a scrape on his cheek. Tommy jumped up, wincing and stepped back._

" _We- I can't anymore, Scar, i can't talk to you or… or be with you or- I just gotta go." He pushed past her quickly._

" _Tommy?" Scarlett followed him out, but he was already on his bike and riding away._

" _Teen romance, so fickle." Scarlett turned to see Ezekiel and his 'gang'. The undesirables of the town._

" _What did you do?" She demanded. He simply chuckled and leaned back in his seat._

" _I didn't do anything, Little Wolf." He smiled. "The boy and I simply had a talk."_

" _Look at me you son of a bitch." Scarlett snarled. His gang all laughed, but she was pissed off, "Leave me alone, I don't know why you're still getting off on this stupid game but there is nothing cool or bad ass about terrorizing a teenage girl." Ezekiel stood up, he was easily six inches taller than her, and Scarlett was by no means short._

" _Because it's about time that you and your grandma realize that you can't escape fate, Little Wolf. You can screw every man in this town but in the end you will be mine." He growled. Scarlett paled and stepped back from him._

" _You're out of your mind. I am not and I never will be yours, Ezekiel James." She snapped, turning on her heel, He reached out, grabbing the hood of her jacket and pulled her back to him._

" _That's where you're wrong, Scarlett Rose." He leaned in close, his face inches from hers. "You've always been mine." Scarlett pushed him back, sending him into the table and turned, hurrying away from him, going back into the Diner just to put a wall between the two of them._

" _So is that why you didn't want me going near him?" Scarlett jumped about half a foot in the air when she heard Jeanine's voice._

" _What?"_

" _You want him for yourself."_

" _What?"_

" _I saw you out there, Scarlett, the way he was all over you, you were all over him. You want Tommy and Ezekiel and… who else? Gonna go after Joey next?"_

" _W-"_

" _Don't say what again, Dammit." They had the attention of most of the room by now._

" _No, Jeanine, I don't want Ezekiel."_

" _Yeah, right. Some friend you are, saw who I wanted and had to take him for yourself." Jeanine threw down a few bucks to pay for her milkshake and stormed out. Scarlett glanced outside and saw him, watching her, a vicious grin on his lips._


	16. Chapter 16

It had been a long time since Scarlett had gone on a proper date. At home that meant going to the diner, where typically it turned into a group date because all your friends were there on dates or on their own looking to get a date. It was different in Auradon.

"This is a terrible idea." Scarlett muttered, her eyes closed, she was letting Audrey to her make up, really Audrey was taking care of most of this for her. Audrey insisted she would do a good job. Audrey went through the clothes Scarlett already owned, from their shopping trip when Scarlett first arrived, and picked an outfit and then shoved her friend into a chair and started on the make up process.

"It's a fantastic idea. Just… give me five more minutes."

"Audrey this stuff smells weird."

"It smells like make up, stop whining." Audrey was just putting on the finishing touches. When she was done, she stepped back and nodded. "Perfect." Scarlett opened her eyes and turned to look in the mirror. It was a very subtle face look, light on the blush and everything, even the smokey eye came out subtle, it was…

"Perfect." Scarlett breathed.

"Good, we're not done, now I have to fix your hair."

"My hair?" Audrey grabbed a brush and pushed Scarlett back into the seat.

"Yes, your hair."

By the time Audrey was done, Scarlett's hair had been done, her make-up was flawless and her red hoodie had been stolen from her and replaced with a short red dress.

"You look amazing." Audrey informed her. Scarlett was looking in the mirror, twisting side to side.

"I do." She agreed with a small smile. "Thanks to you." She looked back over her shoulder at Audrey. "I'd say I'll repay the favor when Jay asks you out but let's be real, I couldn't do anything this amazing." She shook her head and looked back at her own reflection. Audrey clapped happily and went to the door. She pulled it open just at the right time, Chad stood there with his hand held up, poised to knock on the door.

"She's ready."

"How did you know-"

"I have a sixth sense, I know when boys are around." Audrey answered. Chad stared a moment, unsure if she was joking or not but any other questions he had vanished as soon as he saw Scarlett.

"Wow." He whispered. Scarlett smiled softly at the single word.

"You two are adorable." Audrey squealed. "Alright, go, have fun, Chad Charming, you have her back here by curfew." She added as the two of them walked out the door. "Fairy Godmother Who?" Audrey complimented herself, turning and going back into the dorm.

Chad led Scarlett to the parking lot.

"We are allowed cars, just most of us don't use them." He shrugged, "Most days anyway. Auradon is generally really nice out so it makes sense to walk but tonight… we're going on a trip." He smiled at her and stopped at a light blue car. He opened the passenger side for her and she ducked into it.

"Thanks." She added before he closed the door. Chad got in on the driver's side and started the car. "Grandmother hated cars. We had the truck but usually we walked too." Scarlett looked over at him. "Not the most logical thing but it worked for us." She used this as a chance to really study him. Chad backed out of his parking spot and headed away from the school. It wasn't quite dark yet, the sun was just starting to set.

"So where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there." He answered simply. Chad wasn't a slow driver, taking the turns a little faster than necessary, heading further and further away from the school. Finally he slowed down, stopping. "Ben told me about this place, the Enchanted Pond." He got out and Scarlett got out before he could make his way around to help her out. She was already walking towards the water.

"Oh my god, Chad this is amazing." she gasped, The water was clear and she could see the reflections of the stars on the surface. She reached down, messing up the reflection with her fingertips.

"You really like it? I know you like the nighttime-"

"What?" Scarlett paused, looking back at him.

"I've seen you… you go outside a lot after dark." Chad shrugged. "I don't think Fairy Godmother has noticed, so you don't have to worry." He promised. Scarlett's heart stopped for a moment but she forced herself to relax.

"Right, good, I don't know what detention looks like in Auradon but I don't really want to experience it." She shook her head.

"It's not that bad, I've had it… more than a couple of times." He smiled at her.

"What? You? In trouble? I'm not sure I believe it." She teased him. Chad laughed and walked over to the gazebo.

"I try to be good, but the world just makes it difficult." He shrugged, sitting down. Chad took off his shoes and socks, moving so he could let his feel hang in the water. Scarlett walked over and slipped out of the heels that Audrey had lent her, sitting down next to him.

"I can understand that." She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah right, You lived in Countryside, isn't that suppose to be dead boring?"

"Which is why it's up to us to spice it up." She replied.

"Is that right?" He grinned at her.

"Oh yeah, it's wild. I mean, living out in the country, we learn to drive young. My friend Tommy use to get his parents truck and we'd go mudding."

"What's that?"

"Something that doesn't sound like it'd be fun but in reality it's pretty great." She shook her head.

"We'll have to go to Countryside sometime." He commented.

"Audrey said the same thing. I don't think you guys really want to go. It's not… glamourous."

"I don't need glamorous." Chad argued. "I've been there before, actually, it was a long time ago, and I don't think it was the area you lived in but… It was peaceful."

"That it is. It's pretty quiet." She smiled softly, thinking back to it. There was a peace out there that one couldn't find in Auradon. There seemed to be people and noise everywhere at the school. It wasn't really a complaint but she did sometimes miss laying in her bed on the farm just listening to the crickets outside. Chad and Scarlett sat there in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment. There was a crack behind them and they both looked back, but there was nothing there.

"You heard it too?" Scarlett asked, turning her body to get a better look.

"I heard it, it was probably just an animal."

"Are you sure?" Scarlett asked.

"Are you thinking about that guy from the other day? I'm sure he's gone. Ben had the royal guard keep an eye out."

"Right… yeah… of course." Scarlett finally turned back to Chad, sitting back down.

"And if it were him, I'd protect you." Chad informed her. Scarlett couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah? You'd protect me from him?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, You might not know this but I have some pretty sick moves."

"You'll have to show me sometime." Scarlett laughed.

"I'd be glad to." Chad promised. "I can show you a few now if you'd like."

"I would definitely like that." Scarlett agreed. Chad grinned and leaned in, kissing her. Scarlett kissed him back, trying to keep her mind off of whatever that sound had been. She refused to live her life in fear anymore. Ben took care of the problem, now she was going to do what she wanted without worrying about that monster appearing everywhere she went. It was her life.

* * *

 **A/N - More drama is on the way for these two, but I needed some sweet date night stuff. Anyway, the big dramas are coming up. I need to sit down and really plan out the rest of the story because it definitely derailed from the original plan. Someday I'll take that time. So if you wanted to leave a review or something, I would really enjoy it. Especially since it's Sunday and I have to work (The major downside of leaving early Friday due to a migraine). So give me a bit of cheer on this beautiful Sunday where I'll be trapped behind a desk.**


	17. Chapter 17

Scarlett wasn't sure who had the bright idea of going camping. She knew that it was being discussed and she made it clear that she didn't think they'd like it. Something about the royals in her life volunteering to sleep on the ground and roast weenies just… didn't match up. However in the end it was decided they'd all go camping and… now she was kind of excited. Scarlett had always loved the outdoors and had been nervous about going outside because of Ezekiel. She'd of course gone, several times but she'd been so wound up she hadn't been able to really enjoy it, until now.

Scarlett had convinced herself that Ben had gotten the man out of the kingdom. That Ezekiel was at home pouting because he hadn't gotten what he wanted. Yeah he had no problem beating up a teenage boy to get what he wanted but Ben wasn't just a teenage boy, he was the king.

"Audrey… you really don't need all of this." Scarlett pointed out to her roommate, seeing everything that was laying out on the bed. "A hair dryer?"

"How will I dry my hair after my shower?"

"How do you plan on showering?" Scarlett countered. Audrey paused, thinking on that.

"Wait, there aren't showers?"

"We are going to be in tents, in the woods, Princess Audrey. There will be no showers." Scarlett confirmed. Audrey took a moment to process that, looking horrified.

"But my hair!"

"Dry shampoo will become your friend." Scarlett grabbed her can and pressed it into Audrey's hand. "And we'll only be out there for two nights. You'll be fine." She insisted. "Take a hair tie, some dry shampoo and the knowledge that after two days in the woods, all of us are going to smell a little rank." She smiled at Audrey's pout.

"Fine." She sighed, tossing the hair dryer to the side. "What else don't I need?" She asked. Scarlett picked through the items, discarding two dresses, some jewelry, three bottles of perfume-

"No perfume, or body spray, no scented lotion. Trust me Audrey, you will not want any of this stuff on you." Scarlett explained as she replaced Audrey's shimmery strawberry scented lotion with a bottle of plain lotion. After a few minutes Scarlett had Audrey's stuff contained to a single backpack. "This, is how you camp." She grabbed her own backpack, hefting it onto her back.

They went down to the courtyard to meet everyone else. It wasn't just a thing with their friends. Ben had talked to the teachers and they turned it into an educational experience, it was going to be a bunch of them going together, basically their entire class was going to be out there. That made Scarlett feel even better, there were safety in numbers after all. They dropped their bags on the ground and waited, soon enough Chad appeared.

"Oh boy." Scarlett's eyes widened. The prince had obviously never gone camping before. He wore freshly pressed jeans, a plaid button down tucked into those jeans and never before been worn hiking boots.

"Hey." He grinned brightly, wrapping an arm around Scarlett's waist.

"Hey." Scarlett replied. "You look… spiffy."

"You like it?" He asked, stepping back and doing a little turn.

"Love it." She nodded. Ben arrived with Mal, Carlos and Jay.

"Where's Evie?"

"Trying to find someone who help her carry all of her bags. Doug was trying to help but… the poor boy wasn't made for the heavy lifting that comes with Evie." Mal shook her head.

"Hopefully they get here soon, I want to get out there quickly. The tents are already pitched, I figured it would be better and save us all a lot of time." Ben looked to Scarlett. He'd kind of gone to her several times about this trip, assuming the was an expert on the outdoors.

He wasn't wrong, she was pretty good at this.

Finally everyone got down to the courtyard and they headed into the woods.

"Okay so you do know where the tents are being set up right?" Scarlett asked Ben as they started down the trail.

"Yeah… this way." Ben answered, he didn't look completely convinced but he was trying. Scarlett looked back at Chad, who shrugged, and they all followed after him.

"So… how far out is it suppose to be?" Audrey asked, Jay was carrying her bag for her, even though it wasn't really that heavy anymore.

"It's about… fifteen minutes away." Ben replied.

"Oh boy." Scarlett repeated, shaking her head and following after their fearless leader.

Forty five minutes later they still hadn't reached their tents.

"It's just… around here somewhere." Ben insisted.

"Ben, I'm tired, my feet hurt, where are we?" Mal asked, half whining.

"I… We are in the forest outside the school."

"Thanks, your highness, that's so helpful." Mal replied, looking up at him. Ben looked to Scarlett, half pleading. Scarlett nodded and turned on her heel, moving east. Everyone followed after her and about ten minutes later they were at the camp site.

"How did you-"

"Magic." Scarlett interrupted the king. "How are we doing the tents?" She asked, dropping her bag and massaging her shoulder.

"My feet are killing me." Chad whined, flopping to the ground.

"Never wear brand new boots on a long hike." Scarlett advised. Chad looked up to her with puppy dog eyes and she reached down, ruffling his hair.

"There are enough tents that you should be able to just share with your normal dormmate." Ben answered the question. Audrey ran to find a tent for the two of them, wanting one close to the fire.

"So what do we do first? Smores?" Carlos asked excitedly, Jay was getting a tent for the two of them, pushing one of the seven dwarves kids away from a prime tent, the one on the left of Audrey and Scarlett. Chad scrambled up, despite his feet to get the one on the other side of the girls.

"Are we rooming together, Ben?" He asked. Neither of them had roommates. Ben was the king and didn't need one and Chad just got lucky. Also he'd annoyed his past several roommates until they begged for a room change.

"Yeah." Ben nodded, taking his bag to the tent. Scarlett picked up her own bag and ducked into the tent where Audrey was fluffing the pillow that came with the sleeping bag.

"They put out sleeping bags too? Man you royals really know how to rough it." Scarlett teased. Audrey stuck out her tongue.

"We carried all our own stuff." She pointed out.

"No, Jay carried yours." Scarlett corrected. Audrey couldn't stop the little smile from playing across her lips.

"Yeah, he did." She nodded.

"Oh my god, ask him out." Scarlett demanded.

"I couldn't do that!" Audrey gasped. "He has to ask me out. It's proper-"

"Proper my ass. I asked my ex-boyfriend out on our first date."

"And that ended so well."

"If not for a crazed jerk, I'd probably be making plans to marry that ex-boyfriend." Scarlett pointed out.

"Wait seriously? You're like… seventeen."

"People marry young in the country, mostly because we don't have anything else to do." Audrey stared at Scarlett as if she could decide if she was joking or not.

"Hey, you guys settled in?" Chad stuck his head into the tent.

"I am." Scarlett confirmed.

"Me too." Audrey nodded, they all climbed out of the tent, Scarlett used it as a chance to get an idea of where they were staying. It was a large clearing, surrounded by trees. In the middle there was a small fire pit, She didn't know if it was new or if people had camped here before. She stepped closer, but there was really no way of telling.

"So are we going to build a fire?" Carlos popped up behind them.

"I want to set the fire." Jay spoke up.

"What? No, I said fire first." Carlos argued.

"But I said set the fire first." Jay countered. The two of them went back and forth about it for a while before Ben stopped them.

"Go get the firewood and then you can both set the fire." He offered. Jay and Carlos looked at each other then ran into the line of trees looking for dry wood to put in the pit.

"They're going to set themselves on fire." Scarlett predicted.

"Or someone else." Chad agreed. "Want to go for a walk?" He asked, looking to Scarlett.

"Yeah, let's go." She nodded, taking his hand and slipping between the trees.

The two of them walked in silence for a while.

"So you like nature?"

"Yeah, I grew up around nature, it's just what I'm use to. I mean… I love the school, I love the town but I'm use to the sounds of animals and seeing the stars." Scarlett looked up at the sky, It wasn't dark yet, wasn't anywhere near dark, but she knew that tonight she'd be able to see them.

They eventually looped around, heading back to the camp site,

"Wait… Do you hear that?" Scarlett stopped.

"I don't hear-"

"Shh." Scarlett held her finger to her lips. She crept north, carefully stepping over tree roots. She peeked out between a couple of trees and gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth.

"What- Oh my god!" Chad exclaimed. Jay and Audrey broke apart, jumping about a foot away from each other.

"Chad!" Scarlett smacked his arm.

"Oh my god!" Chad repeated, this time clutching his arm. "You're strong, stop."

Scarlett stuck out her tongue and stepped into the clearing where Jay and Audrey had been kissing.

"Sorry… you kids carry on, we're just going to… go." She grabbed for Chad's hand, leading him away from the two of them. They went back to the campsite where Carlos had happily built the fire and went to sit down.

"Who would have thought the woods could be so… romantic?" Chad grinned.

"Oh I knew it." Scarlett replied with a smile. "There is just something so… hot about knowing a dozen animals are staring at you from between the trees." She teased.

"Wait are they really?" Chad paused, looking to the tree line.

"Oh, definitely."


	18. Chapter 18

" _Scarlett Rose, what are you doing?" Grandmother called down the hallway. Scarlett was laying on her stomach in bed, reading._

" _Homework." She lied, knowing that more often than not got her out of having to do any work. It had been about a week since the incident with Ezekiel and Tommy. Jeanine still wasn't speaking to her. Tommy wasn't either and because of that Lexi and Joey had pulled away from her as well. She was still just hoping that maybe… maybe they'd get over it. Maybe they would just realize she hadn't done anything and they'd sit with her at lunch again._

 _Of course it was a small town, everyone noticed that they'd stopped hanging out with her and the stories as to why were running rampant around town._

" _Really? Since when does Harry Tuttle give assignments on… I Dream of Dragons?" Grandmother appeared in the doorway. Scarlett jumped about nine feet in the air._

" _Mr. Tuttle's decided to try some new things since they banned To Kill a Mockingbird-"_

" _Scarlett."_

" _Fine, I'm reading." Scarlett shrugged._

" _What did I tell you about reading this trash?" Grandmother asked, walking over and picking up the book._

" _To stop taking them out of your room without permission."_

" _Exactly." Grandmother handed her the book back. "Did you do your chores?"_

" _Yes." Scarlett nodded. "The dishes are done, I fed the chickens… Shoot."_

" _The clothes?"_

" _Still on the line." Scarlett sighed and got up. "I'll go get them."_

" _Of course you will." Grandmother nodded. "Wear your sweater, it's cold out."_

" _It's not a sweater, Grandma." Scarlett said for the millionth time. "It's a hoodie."_

" _Whatever. It's the same thing." Grandmother insisted._

" _Is not." Scarlett muttered as she slid her arms into her hoodie, she zipped it up and slipped her feet into her shoes. The clothes basket sat by the door and she grabbed it, going out to the backyard. There was a concrete slab out there and that was where the clothes lines were. They only hung up delicates and the sheets, and sometimes t-shirts. But typically t-shirts went in the dryer. Scarlett started to take them down, unclipping bras and underwear just tossing them in the basket, she'd take them inside to fold them. It was dark already and she just wanted to get back to her book. She got to the sheets and started taking them down, getting through two before she heard it._

" _Maisie?" Scarlett peeked around the sheet and saw the chicken, strutting her way across the yard. "Maisie what in the world are you doing out?" Scarlett walked over and picked up the chicken. For a split second Scarlett had the horrified thought that maybe she forgot to lock the coop, that maybe she left the door cracked and she'd spend the night running after chickens but when she got to the coop the door was shut, the lock firmly in place._

" _What in the world…" She looked around, waiting for someone to jump out and scare her._

" _Tommy if this is you… it's not funny." She called out. "I know you're mad, even though it's not my fault, but letting out Grandma's favorite chicken is just mean." She opened the coop and dropped the chicken in, closing the door. She hopped down and walked around the coop to make sure that there were no holes, there weren't, and shook her head. "If Jeanine put you up to this, you're both jerks." She finished and stepped out of the chicken yard, going back towards the clothes line._

 _Scarlett was about halfway there when she heard a growl. She froze and glanced back at the trees. A large wolf slipped out, it's yellow eyes trained on her. Scarlett's heart stopped. The girl didn't move, hoping maybe the wolf would just go away when it realize the chicken was gone, at the same time she was calculating her chances of getting to the house before the wolf could get to her._

 _The wolf reared back as if to attack her and she went for it, turning and jetting towards the house. She let out a scream as what felt like a brick wall hit her in the back. Scarlett fell to the ground as the wolf rolled back into a standing position._

 _The wolf jumped back on her and she felt a searing pain in her leg, more pain than she'd ever felt before. She let out another scream as the wolf dragged her by her upper thigh. The back door burst open and there was a loud bang. Scarlett looked back as the wolf ran off into the woods, the last thing she saw before blacking out was her grandmother, in her pink flowered nightgown, holding a shotgun._

" _Get her in the house." Scarlett was fading in and out, she saw the local doctor, Dr Peterson, felt him lift her up._

" _Don't." She muttered as he tried to put her on the couch. "Blood-"_

" _Hush child, I already put down towels." Grandmother shushed her and then Scarlett was out again._

 _When she woke back up, her leg felt as if it were on fire. She had a wash cloth on her forehead but when she tried to sit up, her body felt as if it were made of lead._

" _Keep the wound clean." Dr Peterson was saying. "She lost a lot of blood- Ruby you should let us take her to the hospital-"_

" _No. No hospitals. I'll keep an eye on her. Thank you Jon." Grandmother led the doctor to the door, waiting until he'd driven off. She walked back over and knelt on the floor next to her granddaughter. "I'm sorry, Baby." She whispered. "I tried to protect you."_

" _I'm sorry." Grandmother jumped at Scarlett's words. "Maisie got out… I put her back."_

" _Don't worry about Maisie, Scarlett." Grandmother shook her head._

" _You shot the wolf." Scarlett muttered, closing her eyes. "The big bad wolf."_

" _That wasn't the big bad wolf, baby girl. That was a sad, pathetic wolf." Grandmother replied, brushing Scarlett's hair from her forehead. "You get some sleep, I'm going to put on tea and change your bandages._

" _Night, Grandma." Scarlett's body relaxed into the couch._

" _Night, Scarlett Rose."_


	19. Chapter 19

The camping trip was going surprisingly well so far. No one had freaked out about using the bathroom in the woods, the lack of hair care seemed to bother them more than anything but they were coping. It was heading for the end of the evening and the fire was starting to die out.

"I'll get some firewood." Chad offered, standing up, brushing the bits of log and dirt from his pants.

"Me too." Jay nodded, figuring the more people to carry the wood the better.

"I'll go with you." Scarlett stood next to him, Audrey jumping up as well to join them. The three friends made their way into the woods, Audrey had grabbed flashlights for them to make the search a little easier.

They all started to split up in their hunt for firewood, Scarlett figured she could pretty easily find Chad and Audrey if they got lost.

"So I didn't know you were into Jay." Chad commented to Audrey as they walked through the brush, she held the flashlight. It was kind of decided, without words, that the search would move faster if the couples were split up.

"You didn't?" Audrey asked. "I figured Scarlett would have mentioned it."

"I don't think she'd tell me about it unless you were okay with it. She seems to be good with secrets."

"What makes you say that?" Audrey walked over and picked up bit of wood, adding it to Chad's pile.

"You never get the feeling that she's… hiding something? She's got something she's not telling us. Like the Ezekiel guy-"

"He's just a psycho who is obsessed with her-"

"But why? I mean, Scarlett is great, I know as well as anyone does but a guy doesn't wake up one morning and decide to stalk a teenage girl." Chad pointed out. "There has to be more to it." He insisted. "But I guess she will tell us when she's ready." He wasn't bothered by the secret. He wished she felt like she could trust them with it but some things were hard to talk about, he knew that.

"I guess." Audrey agreed, the two fell into silence as they walked along. A growl came from behind them and Audrey turned, frowning when there was nothing there.

"What?" Chad looked over his shoudler.

"I heard something…" She pointed the flashlight beam around but nothing was there.

"You're turning into Scarlett." He smiled. Audrey looked at him and chuckled.

"She's gotten better about that."

"She has." He agreed.

"So you like her?" Audrey asked, looking up at her. "A lot?"

"Yes, I like her a lot." He confirmed. He and Audrey had tried dating at one point but it just didn't work, they were too alike and, it turned out, both needed someone a little more level headed in their lives.

"That's sweet." Audrey smiled, the growl came again, this time louder. The two turned and the flashlight's light landed on a large black wolf. The wolf bared its teeth, growling again. Audrey screamed and Chad dropped the wood, grabbing Audrey's wrist, the two ran.

"She was helping me look for dry wood so I could start the fire. We were talking about the trip, how it was going to be fun, she was upset because she found out that she wouldn't be able to use her hair dryer-"

"Did she actually put that back in her pack?" Scarlett asked.

"Probably." Jay nodded. "Anyway, after that she asked me out. I told her yes and then kissing started and-"

"And then Chad's Oh My God ruined the moment."

"Pretty much." Jay confirmed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't realize he'd blurt anything out."

"It's fine. We needed to get back anyway. Carlos beat me." Jay wasn't thrilled about that part.

"I do need to talk to you about something." Scarlett stopped and looked up at the son of Jafar.

"Yeah?"

"If you do anything, and I mean anything, to hurt her. I will hunt you down, knock you out, remove your liver and leave you in a bathtub full of ice in the worst part of the Isle." She informed him. Jay stared at her a moment but before they could get anything else out, the two of them heard the scream. They both dropped everything and ran towards the sound, both of them knowing without a shadow of a doubt that it was Audrey.

Chad and Audrey ran, the wolf on their heels until they came to the clearing, the one where Jay and Audrey had been kissing hours before. They got halfway through before another wolf appeared from the trees, trapping them in. Chad tried to get Audrey behind him but with the animals on both sides, it wasn't an easy task.

"W-What-" Chad stammered, They could break to the left or right but he didn't like their chances of getting out. Maybe if they split up.

"Chad-" Audrey grabbed his arm. The second wolf was changing, growing taller, shifting to stand on two legs as he body transformed.

"Ezekiel." Chad breathed, recognizing the man who'd been following his girlfriend. They were both frozen in shock.

"You remember me." The man smirked, "Of course." He nodded his head to the black wolf, who also transformed into a human, one they didn't recognize but a man nonetheless.

"What are you?" Chad asked, horrified. Both men were nude, But neither Audrey or Chad had a chance to care about that. She remained attached to Chad's back, her eyes trained on the man who had once been the black wolf, just in case he had any plans to attack.

"You thought you could keep Scarlett from me?" Ezekiel asked, laughing bitterly. "You thought a few rich, pompous royal brats could keep me from what's mine?" He stepped closer to them. Chad took a step to the left, Wolves weren't easy to outrun but these were just two guys. "It doesn't matter, she is mine and she knows it, and with you two out of the way she'll have even less reason to-"

His words cut off as a smaller red wolf slammed into his side, sending him sprawling.

The man cried out as the wolf bit him, taking a small chunk out of his side, the second man went to run and help Ezekiel but Ezekiel held up a hand to stop him. The wolf was trying to bite at his neck and he held it off with one hand. He threw the wolf off of him and the red wolf rolled, stopping in front of one of the trees. Ezekiel held a hand to his side, obviously in pain.

"Is that how you play, Little Wolf? Cheap shots?" He didn't even look up when Jay found his way into the clearing, surprised to see a wolf and two naked men surrounding Chad and Audrey. The wolf bared its teeth at Ezekiel, preparing for another attack. Before it could, the two men transformed, running off into the woods. The small wolf, looked over at the three people, taking a step back before seemingly giving up. This wolf transformed, just like the other two.

"Scarlett." Audrey's eyes widened as she stared at her best friend, Ezekiel's blood staining her chin.


	20. Chapter 20

" _Lycanthropy." Grandmother repeated. The bite had happened the night before and Scarlett was feeling better, more awake anyway._

" _I still don't know what that means." The girl shook her head, looking to the bandages wrapped around her thigh._

" _Girl you read all those trashy novels and you don't know that word?" Grandmother sighed. "Seventeen years ago, your mother left. She just up and left without a word. After the incident with the Big Bad Wolf she hadn't been… right. It affected her more than anyone really knew and when she left, I wasn't terribly surprised, she left a note to tell me not to come looking for her-"_

" _But you did, right?"_

" _Of course I did. Rose is my daughter."_

" _Was your daughter."_

" _I would have done anything to find her and bring her back home. At this point, King Adam had rounded up all the villains, including that damned wolf. I knew it wasn't his doing, but everything I did, nothing came of it. She was gone. Then, nearly two years later, I woke up to a knock on my door. There, in the same basket i'd sent her with years before, was a baby and a note." Grandmother pulled a folded up piece of paper from her pocket, giving it to Scarlett, who unfolded it._

' _This is Scarlett, please, take care of her. Protect her at all costs. And above all, do not let James get his hands on her'_

 _At the bottom of the note there were two articles stapled, one about werewolves, the other about local goats turning up slaughtered._

" _What are you saying?"_

" _I'm saying… That your mother warned me about James long before I knew who he was. You were a toddler before he started popping up around town. He was asking for Rose, about Rose's family. No one in town would tell him anything of course but eventually he saw us at the store. You had wandered away from me at the store and he brought you back, after giving you a lollipop. As soon as he told me his name, I took the lollipop and gave it back. I told him to stay far far away from me, from you, and if I ever saw him near you again I would call the sheriff."_

" _But you didn't."_

" _He never came near you when I was around." She pointed out. "He was always careful when I was there. He kept far enough back that he didn't touch you. I thought- I had hoped he would lose interest, I mean, why would he be so interested in Rose's daughter?"_

" _And?"_

" _One night, you were having a sleepover with Jeanine so I decided to go into town, I met up with some of my friends and we went to the diner. Ezekiel was there and he tried to follow me home. The Sheriff did get involved. He was dragging him off to the jail when Ezekiel informed me about some destiny, that your fate was to be with him. I told him he was a sicko for going after a seven year old."_

" _Why didn't you tell me-"_

" _You were a child, Scarlett. I wasn't going to tell you about some crazy man's idea of what your destiny was. Destiny isn't real. We make our own paths in this life. My path was to keep you safe, to do for you what I couldn't do for your mother. And what I apparently couldn't do for you." Grandmother looked to Scarlett's leg. She reached down and started to unwrap the bandage. When the last of it fell away, the wound, which had been deep and bloody, nearly taking off a chunk of her leg, was nearly healed already, the wound little more than an irritated pink color as it fixed itself._

 _The two jumped when there was a banging at the door._

" _Don't move." Grandmother ordered. She picked up the shot gun where she'd left it against the wall and held it up._

" _Ruby!" Ezekiel shouted, pounding on the door again. "Ruby let me in!" He demanded._

" _Get the hell off my land, Ezekiel James." Grandmother replied._

" _You know what she is, Ruby, what's going to happen." Ezekiel called through the door. "Let me help her. I can guide her-"_

" _You won't be guiding her through anything, you son of a bitch." In a lower voice she looked to Scarlett. "Call the Sheriff." Scarlett got up and went to the kitchen where the phone was. She picked it up and made the call._

" _You can't hide her forever Ruby. I will get to her. She is mine, she has always been mine and always will be mine. It's her destiny and there is no escaping fate!"_

" _I can assure you, so long as I live on God's green earth, you won't get anywhere near her." Grandmother snapped back. He slammed his hand on the door one more time before walking away. Scarlett looked up to her grandmother her gray eyes wide._

" _He will never get to you, Scarlett Rose." She promised._

 _Of course that did still leave them with a bit of an issue. They didn't really know what to expect from the coming month. They called in Tommy and his dad to install chains in the cellar, claiming they were going to be to chain the barrels down, as they were having a problem with potato thieves. It was a lie but it was easier than the truth. They didn't even know if the chains would help but it was better than nothing._

 _The night of the full moon, Scarlett felt terrible, she ended up taking the day off school, she was sweating, shaking, moody. By the time the sun was going down, they took her to the cellar. Grandmother opted against the chains, this time, instead just chaining and padlocking the door. Less than an hour later she heard the screams of pain, agony, she wanted nothing more than to run out there, to help her but she knew there was nothing she could do._

 _The screams turned to howls and Grandmother's heart plummeted, it was all true, it was happening, her granddaughter had been transformed._


End file.
